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HISTORY 



OF 



Calvary Baptist Church 



NEW YORK 



Robert S. Mac Arthur, D. D., Pastor 

Frank R. Morse, D. D., Associate 
I 



ILLUSTRATED 



PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF ' IE OFFICERS 
OF THE CHURCH 




New York 
E. Scott, Printer and Publisher, 134 West 23d Street 

1890 




*p 



&$*> 



Copyright 
By E. Scott. 



"PREFACE. 



It is important that histories of our churches be 
written and preserved for the - information of coming 
generations, and also even for the present generation. 
Dates and events soon fade from the mind. As a 
church grows, its new members need to know the exact 
facts regarding its origin and earlier history. They 
cannot feel a warm interest in its present position and 
future growth unless they know something of its origin 
and subsequent life. In the early, history of almost 
every church there are heroic struggles and brave en- 
deavors, which ought to be known by those who after- 
ward become members of the body. 

It is important that the history be written also for 
the sake of other churches of the denomination in the 
city and in the Association. Each church is a part of 
a grander whole, and the interests of one church are 
the interests of all the churches. The successes of each 
are an inspiration for the labors of the entire sister- 
hood of churches. With the desire of doing justice to 
the former pastors and members of the Calvary Church, 
and of subserving all the interests of both church and 
denomination, this brief history has been prepared. 

We have not named all who have labored in some 



4 Preface. 

form as yoke-fellows in the common work. Some ex- 
cellent workers, like the Rev. Joseph Weston, now 
pastor of a flourishing church in Ohio, have not been 
named in that list, their labors having been given es- 
pecially to the Sunday-school or to some one depart- 
ment of the general work. Mr. Weston did admirable 
service both in the pastor's study and for the Sunday- 
school, until he left to complete his course of study in 
Rochester. He will be gratefully remembered in the 
years to come. 

It is but fair to say that Mr. E. Scott, the pub- 
lisher and printer, has done his work with most pains- 
taking care. It proved to be a much more difficult 
and costly undertaking than was at first supposed. It 
was no easy matter to get the facts which it was 
necessary to record ; and the labor of accurately de- 
scribing the interior of the house, with its decorations, 
its symbols and mottoes, was a much greater task than 
was anticipated. 

The completed work is now offered to the members 
of the church and congregation, and to other friends, 
with the hope that it may contribute to the glory of 
our common Lord and Master, and to the advancement 
of His cause. 



Contents. 

Early History, - 7 

Rev. David Bellamy, - 1 1 

" John Dow ling, - - - -17 

" A. D. Gillette, - - - - 19 

R. J. W. Bnckland, - - - - 29 

Mr. Ebenezer Cauldwell, - - - 31 

Mr. Nathan Bishop, - - - - 33 

Rev. Robert Stuart Mae Arthur, - - 37 

The Church Edifice, - - - 45 

The Main Auditory, - - - ■ 49 

Pulpit and Parapet Screeii. - 

The Organ, - - - - - 63 

The Chapel, - - - - - 65 

History of the Sunday-School, - 69 

Sketch of Robert Stuart MacArthur, - 85 

Dr. MacArthur s Yoke- Fellows, - - 91 

General Notes, - -' - • 1 o 1 

The Present Condition of the Church, - 107 



List of 11 lustrations.. 



i. Calvary Baptist Church, Exterior. 

2. John Dowling. 

j. Abraham D. Gillette. 

4.. Exterior Calvary Church, Twenty-third Street. 

5. Interior Calvary Church, Twenty-third Street. 

6. R. J. W. Buckland. 

7. Ebenezer Cauldwell. 

8. Nathan Bishop. 

9. Robert Stuart Mac Arthur. 

10. Catherine-wheel Window and Central Doors, Fifty-seventh Street. 

11. Interior — Galleries, Ends of Organs, Side Walls, Ceiling, lantern 

and Catherine-wheel Window. 

12. Chancel — Lancet Windows, Trinity and Baptismal Tablets — North 

End. 

ij. Pulpit — Central Section. 

14. East and West Ends of Pulpit Screen, with Arches and Medal- 
lions. 

75. Complete View of North End. 

16. West Wall of Chapel, with Lantern, South Wall and Gallery 

Rooms. 

17. East Curved Wall and Ceiling of Chapel. 

18. Chapel — Rear Gallery, Section of. North Gallery, and Infant Class 

Rooms beneath. 
ip. William A. Cauldwell. 



THE CALVARY "BAPTIST CHURCH. 



O he Calvary Baptist Church, New York, had a 
small and feeble beginning. Many of its con- 
stituent members, and its first pastor, were from 
the historic Stanton Street Church, from which the 
Fifth Avenue Church, New York City, also came out. 
In November, 1846, Rev. David Bellamy resigned the 
office of pastor of the Stanton Street Church, and 
action was immediately taken by some of his friends to 
organize another church. They called a meeting at 
No. 219 Wooster Street, on Wednesday evening, No- 
vember 25th, 1846. The night was dark and stormy, 
and only ten persons were present. The meeting was 
adjourned to Friday evening of the same week, when 
it was held at No. 3 Third Street (now Grand). Four- 
teen persons were present, and an organization was 
effected, under the name of " The Hope Chapel Con- 
gregation." A committee was appointed to secure 



The Calvary Baptist Church. 



the Coliseum, a public hall at No. 450 Broadway, 
for a place of worship. The same committee was in- 
structed to invite the Rev. David Bellamy to preach 
for the new Society on the following Sunday. The 
committee were successful in both of these commissions, 
and Mr. Bellamy continued to preach in this place until 
after the church had become formally organized. 

On Sunday, January 3d, 1847, a special meeting was 
held at the close of the evening service, and it was 
unanimously and heartily resolved to take immediate 
measures formally to organize as an independent Baptist 
Church. Among the leading men in the Society at 
that time were W. D. Salisbury, B. S. Squires, M. G. 
Lane, William E. Sibell, W. D. Manwaring, Henry 
Estwick, William Conklin, Abraham Fanning and John 
Fanning. 

On Sunday, February 28th, the people were invited 
to tarry at the close of the evening service. Rev. Elisha 
Tucker, pastor of the Oliver Street Baptist Church, who 
was present by invitation, was elected chairman of the 
meeting. Rev. David Bellamy then presented the fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

" Believing the step we are about to take to be in 
accordance with the leadings of Divine Providence, and 



Its Early History. 



influenced, we trust, by a desire to promote the interests 
of the Redeemer's Kingdom, in our own advancement 
in knowledge and holiness, and the salvation of sinners, 
and in the exercise of the Christian liberty assured us 
in the Gospel, we, whose names are hereunto attached, 
having been baptized on a profession of our faith in 
Christ, and having been regularly dismissed from the 
churches to which we respectively belong - , do 

"Resolve, that herein and hereby, by the adoption of 
this resolution we constitute ourselves into an indepen- 
dent Baptist Church, by the name of ' The Hope Chapel 
Baptist Church, in the city of New York."' 

This resolution having been adopted, Articles of Faith 
were appended, and one hundred and seven former 
members of the Stanton Street Church, and of other 
Baptist churches, subscribed their names. Being thus 
formally constituted a Baptist Church, an official call 
was extended to Rev. David Bellamy to become the 
pastor. 

This call was duly accepted, and four weeks later, 
March 31st, a meeting was held at which it was resolved 
to invite a council for the purpose of obtaining recog- 
nition as a regular Baptist Church. This body, composed 
of delegates from the neighboring Baptist churches, met 



io The Calvary Baptist Church. 

at the First Baptist Church, on Broome Street, on April 
22d, 1847. 

After due examination of the Articles of Faith, the 
motion to receive the church into the fellowship of the 
Denomination was made by the distinguished Spencer 
H. Cone, D. D., at that time pastor of the First Church, 
and, accordingly, on the evening of the first Sunday 
in May, the public services of recognition were held in 
the Coliseum. Rev. James L. Hodge, D. D., pastor of 
the First Baptist Church, Brooklyn, preached the Ser- 
mon ; the Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Dickerson ; 
the Hand of Fellowship was given by Rev. Elisha 
Tucker; and the Address to the Church was made by 
Rev. C. G. Somers. 



Rev. David "Bellamy. 



(b HE I 



Q) 



he Rev. David Bellamy was born at Kingsbury, 
Washington County, N. Y., the 19th of May, 
1806. He came from New England stock, the 
first American Bellamy being one of the original settlers 
of New Haven, Conn., and was known in its annals as 
"the schoolmaster." The Rev. Dr. Joseph Bellamy, 
whose writings, with those of Jonathan Edwards, did so 
much to give shape to New England theology, was his 
great-grandfather. His father was a business man, and 
left Connecticut to establish himself in New York State. 
David was the eldest of five brothers. His childhood 
and youth were spent in Kingsbury, surrounded by beau- 
tiful scenery, and in the enjoyment of ordinary advan- 
tages of early education. The alertness of his mind 
showed itself in his fondness for study and for reading. 

The boy received his first religious impressions during 
the great revival of 18 16, in which both his parents were 
also converted. The parents joined the Baptist Church 



12 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

at that time ; but the boy of ten years was thought by 
his elders to be too young for baptism, and was advised 
4 'to wait." The result of this discouragement to his 
warm nature was years of wandering, touched by wild- 
ness. Yet he always attributed to this boyhood con- 
version his real start in the religious life. 

His father offered to each of his sons the choice 
between a college course and a business career. To his 
deep subsequent regret, David chose the latter. Upon 
leaving school, he devoted himself to business with en- 
ergy. He married Miss Eliza Benedict, of Auburn, and 
soon after, in 1829, established a business in Chatauqua 
County. In 1830, however, he went through a new 
religious experience. The result of this awakening from 
his long back-slidden state was that he felt it his duty 
to devote the rest of his life to the Gospel ministry. So 
he left his business, and, with his wife, who had also been 
converted, he returned to his old home. Here, in the 
presence of the companions of his youth, they were both 
baptized, in August, 1831, by the Rev. Amos Stearns. 

He was soon licensed and began to preach. In his 
circumstances he found a full college course impractica- 
ble ; but the young man resolved that if hard study would 
yield him an equivalent for such a course, he would ob- 



Rev. David Bellamy. 13 

tain it. Vigorous health and his strong will enabled him 
to accomplish this, as well as to pursue the full course 
of reading and study required of the theological students 
of that day. All his life he continued a close student, 
and he made high scholarly attainments. 

His first pastorate was at Skaneatles, Onondaga Coun- 
ty. There he was ordained, January nth, 1833. This 
was a new church, and his work was pioneering. His 
preaching was earnest, his pastoral labor enthusiastic. 
After two years of this kind of work, accompanied by 
severe application in his study, he was called to Manlius, 
in the same county, where he spent years of success- 
ful toil. After his resignation, May, 1839, some months 
were spent in rest and medical treatment, but without 
much result. During a visit in New York, he was in- 
duced by Dr. Spencer H. Cone to enter the work of the 
American and Foreign Bible Society in Western New 
York. In this work he regained his health, and soon 
felt strong enough to accept the cordial invitation of 
the Baptist Church in Ithaca. After fifteen months 
of successful labor in Ithaca, during which a powerful 
revival was experienced, he was unanimously called to 
the pastorate of the Stanton Street Church, of New 
York City. 



14 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

When David Bellamy was installed as pastor of this 
church, in September of 1841, he was just entering the 
prime of his manhood. The aspect of things, however, 
in Stanton Street was forbidding, and would have caused 
a weaker man to be discouraged. The pastorate here 
was notably blessed in its spiritual power and in its 
material prosperity. Two large revivals followed each 
other in eighteen months, from which over two hundred 
were baptized. During the five years of the pastorate 
about four hundred and fifty were added to the mem- 
bership. In the autumn of 1846 he resigned in order to 
lead a colony in the formation of Hope Chapel. 

After three years of anxious labor in this field, he 
found his health again undermined, and he resigned to 
go into the country to rest, and recover from the nervous 
exhaustion which his overwork had produced. For two 
years he resided unemployed at Clyde, N. Y. 

In the Spring of 1852, finding himself stronger, he 
settled as pastor in the neighboring town of Arcadia. 
After a short pastorate, he became pastor of the church 
in Mount Morris, N. Y., in 1854. The devoted com- 
panion of the first twenty years of his ministry had 
been taken from him ; and at his entrance upon the 
Mount Morris pastorate he was married to Miss Lucy 



Rev. David Bellamy. 15 

Clarke Eells, of Manlius. While at Mount Morris his 
only child was born, Francis Bellamy, who is now pastor 
of the Bethany Baptist Church of Boston. 

Mr. Bellamy's health had never fully recovered from 
the overwork of his New York charges; and in 1859 
he again was obliged to relinquish his responsibility. 
But he could not rest long out of his loved employ- 
ment, and with the first indications of gathering strength 
he accepted a call to the First Baptist Church of Rome, 
N. Y. Here he spent the last years of his life. 

It is now a quarter of a century since his death ; yet 
it is not an infrequent remark, " David Bellamy made 
the Bible more real and living than any other preacher 
I ever heard." 

On the 1 st of October, 1864, as he was returning 
from a funeral, he was stricken down with apoplexy and 
died in a few hours, still in his prime. 



%ev. John ^Bowling, T).D. 




n January 23D, 1850, Dr. Dowling assumed 
charge of the church, and resigned April 13th, 
1852. Dr. Dowling was born at Pavensey, 
England, May 12th, 1807. His ancestors for generations 
were communicants in the Established Church of Eng- 
land. Having removed to London when quite young, 
he was brought into contact with new religious influ- 
ences, and at the age of seventeen was converted and 
baptized into the fellowship of the Eagle Street Baptist 
Church. In early life he showed an intense eagerness 
for literary pursuits, and a rare aptitude in acquiring 
and imparting knowledge. While still young he was a 
successful teacher of the classics in two institutions in 
London. In 1832 he came to America, and soon after 
was settled as pastor of the Baptist Church in Cats- 
kill, where he. was ordained. For a short time he 
resided in Newport, R. I. He was twice pastor of the 
Berean Church, on Bedford Street, his pastorate cover- 



The Calvary Baptist Church. 



ing a period of twenty years. He served a church in 
Philadelphia, also the South Church, Newark, N. J., and 
the South Church of New York City. Although he 
labored but a short time as pastor of the Calvary 
Church, and no marked changes occurred during his 
ministry, yet he was held in high esteem by the people 
and warmly appreciated as a preacher. Dr. Dowling 
was not only an able sermonizer, but his published 
works show his ability as a thinker. His " History of 
Romanism" is an exhaustive production. Its publication 
excited wide interest, and nearly 30,000 copies have been 
sold. We have numerous other treatises from his pen, 
which show the range of their author's thought and the 
thoroughness of his investigation. Dr. Dowling was a 
man of warm impulses. He strongly endeared himself 
to his friends. To a prolific mind and a generous heart 
he united a character of high rectitude. He died at 
Middletown, N. Y., July, 1878. 



Rev. c/7. D. Gillette, T>.D. 




n August ist, 1852, Rev. A. D. Gillette, D.D., 
was called. We would scarcely think now of 
holding a meeting on August ist to call a pas- 
tor. In those days the more modern idea of closing 
churches and doing no religious work for three months 
in the year had not suggested itself. We have made 
great progress since. It was during his pastorate that 
the lots on Twenty-third Street were bought. It was 
difficult then to induce the people to vote to go so far 
up-town. Subsequent events justified the wisdom of Dr. 
Gillette and the brethren who worked with him. These 
lots were bought for a little less than $18,000; they 
were sold in 1883 for $225,000. It is matter for regret 
that our brethren did not buy a few more lots, although 
they found it sufficiently difficult to pay for those they 
did buy. 

Great credit is due to Dr. Gillette, and two or three 
others, for the energy, sagacity and tact employed in 
bringing about this removal. Dr. Winter was especially 



20 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

active in advocating the change. He used to come to 
church on horseback from his home on the Bloomingdale 
Road, and his horse, hitched to a tree or lamp-post, 
was afterward a familiar sight on Twenty-third Street, 
near the church, on Sunday mornings and evenings. 

The erection of a church edifice was begun at once, 
and on the first Sunday in January, 1854, the people 
worshipped in the basement of this house. On the first 
Sunday in May, of the same year, the upper part of 
the house was occupied for the first time. The total 
cost of erecting and furnishing this house was less than 
$55,000. Small, comparatively, as this sum must now 
seem, it was obtained only by the most strenuous exer- 
tions. In September of the same year the name was 
changed to the Calvary Baptist Church. This was a 
time of high hopes and great struggles. Few of us 
to-day can appreciate the burden which a few brethren 
carried in those days. At times it seemed as if they 
must sink under the load. From their own means — 
which were not large — they gave again and again to 
meet church debts. Sometimes they had to raise money 
on their notes to meet interest and other claims. The 
ladies in various societies took their share. Pastor and 
people worked heroically. They were enlarging the 




mm 

Calvary Church, Twenty-third Street. 



Rev. A. D. Gillette, D. D. 21 

curtain of their tent and lengthening their cords at 
great sacrifices. At length our terrible Civil War came. 
Many young men went into the army. Prayer-meetings 
were broken up ; there was not the heartiest sympathy 
between some of the older and some of the younger 
brethren. By heroic efforts, however, the current ex- 
penses were paid and the debt was considerably re- 
duced. On December 2 2d, 1863, Dr. Gillette resigned. 
His pastorate of over eleven years was the crowning 
work of his useful life. 

With his coming, new life and power were given to 
every sphere of church work. Soon the congregations 
overflowed Hope Chapel. The "up-town" idea was then 
as serious a matter of discussion as it has been in later 
days. The selection of the site on Twenty-third Street 
was due to his sagacity. Often has he told the writer 
of the discussions of those days, of his own anxious 
searching for lots, of his choice of these, and of the 
efforts to secure them. With the aid of his brother-in- 
law, Mr. George W. A. Jenkins, and the co-operation of 
other leaders in the church, the lots were secured and 
the house erected. The number of members was com- 
paratively small, their means were quite limited, their 
burdens heavy and their achievements noble. 



22 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

In all these protracted struggles, his patience, his tact, 
his practical judgment, were everywhere felt, guiding 
and inspiring the entire work. It was a great day for 
him and his people when the new house on Twenty- 
third Street was opened for worship. New families 
soon came in ; social and financial strength was gained, 
and the hopes of years gradually matured into blessed 
results. Dr. Gillette was prominent in every good word 
and work. To this hour his work is appreciated heartily, 
his influence felt constantly, and his memory cherished 
tenderly. We loved, during all his life-time, to think 
and speak of him as "our senior pastor." 

The clouds of battle darkened our national sky during 
the closing years of Dr. Gillette's ministry in the Calvary 
Church ; but he was to go into still darker clouds at 
the nation's capital. In 1864 he became the pastor of 
the First Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. During 
the later years of the war, and the years immediately 
succeeding, Washington was the centre of tremendous 
activities and seriously conflicting opinions. Into this 
stormy sea, Dr. Gillette, by his knowledge and sympathy, 
was necessarily plunged. With President Lincoln, Edwin 
M. Stanton and other men at the centres of power, he 
maintained intimate personal relations. His counsels 




Interior Calvary Church, Twenty-third Street. 



Rev. A. D. Gillette, D. D. 23 

were often sought in the critical junctures of our nation's 
life. Following the fight with Early at Fort Stevens, 
when he came before Washington, Dr. Gillette found 
work in going from hospital to hospital and from camp 
to camp among the wounded. He was often employed 
as chaplain of the Houses of Congress and of the 
Government Hospital for the Insane. 

At the urgent request of President Johnson and Sec- 
retary Stanton, Dr. Gillette spent most of the time 
during the last few days of their lives with the con- 
spirators who murdered President Lincoln ; following 
out this same request, he officiated as chaplain at their 
execution. The case of Paine especially interested him ; 
for his father's sake and his own soul's sake, the good 
Doctor gave him unremitting attention. 

The excitements of those awful days told upon his 
health. In December, 1868, he broke down utterly be- 
fore the close of a morning service. By the advice of 
his physicians he went abroad. While in London he 
enjoyed the intimate friendship of Mr. Spurgeon, Hon. 
and Rev. Baptist Noel, and other distinguished Baptists. 
Baptist Noel preceded him into the land of perpetual 
fellowship. The rest and change which this visit se- 
cured brought back health and vigor. 



24 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

In the fall of 1870 he returned to America, and almost 
immediately he accepted the temporary charge of the 
Gethsemane Baptist Church, Brooklyn. He could not 
be idle ; his whole soul was in the work of preaching ; 
and in 1874 he became pastor of the Baptist Church at 
Sing Sing. With all the enthusiasm of early manhood 
he took hold of the work. His influence was felt in 
all the interests of education and Christianity in the 
village. He then became stated supply of the church 
at North New York, a young church just across the 
Harlem River. His advancing years were bright and 
beautiful ; he was walking on the sunny side of the cross. 
He was growing old sweetly and happily. He loved 
his work ; his preaching instructed the people, and they 
in turn co-operated heartily with him. 

After his return from England his membership, to- 
gether with that of his estimable wife, was resumed with 
the Calvary Church. Upon going to Sing Sing it was 
transferred to the church there. On their return to the 
city their letters were brought again to the old church. 
Never shall we forget the long and sunny visits had with 
the Doctor at that time. He spoke of his love for the 
old church, his desire that he might have a home there 
until he went to his home above, and that when that 



Rev. A. D. Gillette, D. D. 25 

time came he might be buried from the spot he loved 
so well. All happened as he hoped. In May, 1880, the 
Baptist national anniversaries were holding their sessions 
in Saratoga. Here he was stricken with apoplexy. All 
that filial affection and medical skill could do for him 
was done by his son, Dr. Walter R. Gillette, of this 
city. At Lake George, under the tender ministrations 
of his beloved wife, partial restoration came. The dis- 
ease left the intellect intact, but the power to express 
ideas in appropriate words was gone, never to return. 
The attack returned regularly every month. He was, 
however, bright and cheerful ; he still rejoiced in the 
sunshine of Christ's love ; he still was interested in all 
the concernments of national and church life. But it 
was evident to near friends that the end was drawing 
near. On May 29th, 1882, a long cherished wish was 
gratified ; he was able to be present at the laying 
of the corner-stone of the new Calvary Church on 
Fifty -seventh Street. On August 24th, 1882, he 
calmly fell asleep in his summer home on Lake 
George, aged seventy-five years. The end was peace ; 
the long warfare was over ; the endless victory begun ; 
the cross was laid down, and the soldier of Christ was 
crowned more than conqueror. 



26 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

" Mortals cried, a man is dead ; 
Angels sang, a child is born." 

As a pastor he was devoted to his duties. His great 
tact and attractive social qualities made him a welcome 
visitor in every home. At the bedside of the sick and 
in the house of mourning he was gentle in manner, wise 
in counsel, and fervent in spirit. This was a marked 
element of his power. Dr. Gillette's heart was always 
young. This characteristic gave him troops of friends 
among young and old outside of his own churches, his 
own denomination, and the social circles in which he 
ordinarily moved. It is sometimes said that churches 
do not like old men. But churches always liked him ; he 
was always full of the enthusiasm of youth, hope and 
love. He was not old. To young ministers especially 
was he a cordial friend. There is no jealousy so sad as 
that which some men, who are growing old, show toward 
the younger brethren who are coming on the stage of 
action. This feeling has embittered the lives of many 
otherwise noble men. It has been often "the last in- 
firmity of noble minds." Dr. Gillette was too large- 
hearted for this miserable feeling. For twelve years 
the relations of the present pastor with him had been 
most intimate. Together they stood by the dying and 



Rev. A. D. Gillette, D. D. 27 

the dead, and labored in many other ways. He always 
and everywhere was the true friend, the genuine 
brother, and the perfect Christian gentleman. Stately 
in figure, refined in face, and courtly in manner, he 
was a man to be observed among a thousand. His 
strictly clerical garb was eminently adapted to the 
whole style of the man. His life, in every circle in 
which he moved, was a constant benediction, a testi- 
mony to the grace of God, and a model to the younger 
men in the ministry. 

His wish to be buried from the old church was, in 
the providence of God, gratified. Dying at Lake 
George, Thursday, August 24th, he was buried from 
this church on Monday, August 28th. Drs. Samson, 
Burlingham and Armitage, and Rev. Walter Scott, made 
appropriate addresses ; and Drs. Everts and Deems 
offered the prayers, and the pastor presided and read 
the lessons. On Sunday morning, September 3d, the 
pastor preached a memorial discourse in the presence of 
a large and sympathetic audience. It is fitting that these 
facts be mentioned in this history which will be read by 
many whom he was instrumental in bringing into the 
kingdom of God. No words more appropriately express 
our tender memories of him and many others who once 



28 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

filled the pews of the old church, than these from Dean 
Alford : 

" Oh, then what raptured greetings 
On Canaan's happy shore, 
What knitting severed friendships up, 

Where partings are no more ! 
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, 

That brimmed with 'tears of late, 
Orphans no longer fatherless, 
Nor widows desolate." 







«■- .i_ii .'..:■ .: ;L^L.. 




%ev. R. J. IV. Buckland, T>. D. 




or nearly a year after Dr. Gillette's resignation 
the church was without a pastor. On Novem- 
ber ist, 1864, a call was extended to Rev. 
R. J. W. Buckland, D.D., who had preached as pulpit 
supply for about six months. He thus became Dr. 
Gillette's successor, and continued in this office until 
September 24th, 1869, when he resigned to accept the 
Chair of Church History in Rochester Theological 
Seminary. During the pastorate of Dr. Buckland, the 
balance of the debt was paid. This result was secured 
through the wise counsels, inspiring leadership, and 
generous example of Nathan Bishop, LL.D., Mr. Eben- 
ezer Cauldwell, and others. 

Dr. Buckland was born in Dearfield, N. Y., December 
16th, 1829. He graduated from Union College in 1855. 
He was soon after ordained as pastor of the Olive 
Branch Baptist Church, on Madison Avenue, and after 
a year's service became pastor of the Baptist Church in 



30 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Sing Sing. He remained here from 1857 to 1864. Dr. 
Buckland was a rare scholar for a man of his years. 
He loved his books. He spent many hours poring over 
various volumes. He was not only a linguist, but he 
was a church historian and a student of natural history. 
He loved his microscope, and the world of wonders 
which it revealed. He gave much time to studying 
God's thoughts as written in flower and plant ; and he 
found the traces of infinite wisdom in minute cell, in 
opening bud, and in blooming flower. He died all too 
soon for the cause of sacred learning. He just began 
to make his mark in his new position, when the painful 
sickness came, finally resulting in his death, which oc- 
curred in 1877, m the city °f Rochester. Memorial 
services were held in the Calvary Church, in which Dr. 
Augustus H. Strong, of Rochester, Dr. Howard Crosby, 
of New York, and others, participated. Dr. Buckland 
was a student, rather than a pastor ; a devoted scholar, 
rather than a popular preacher. 



0\4r. Ebene^er Cauldwell. 




r. Cauldwell, of whom we have just spoken, 
was born in England, in 1 791, but came to 
this country and city while but a youth. 
He was a man of wonderful clearness of thought, and 
of equal activity in business life. He joined the Calvary 
Church, March 1st, 1855, on his letter of dismission from 
the historic Oliver Street Church. His coming was a 
great blessing to all the struggling interests of the 
Calvary Church. He brought with him a mature Chris- 
tian character, a varied business experience, and much 
financial strength. His wisdom in the management of 
church finances was great, and his liberality was equally 
marked. His large subscription gave hope for the entire 
removal of the debt which had so long burdened the 
people. He generously seconded the efforts of Dr. 
Bishop, by making the largest single contribution toward 
this desirable end. Cheerful in disposition, constant in 
attendance, and fully instructed in Scripture, he was a 



32 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

man of power in the prayer and conference meetings, 
and a leader in every relation in church life. He died 
June 19th, 1875, r ip e m years, crowned with honors, and 
surrounded by a loving family. 



T>r. Nathan "Bishop, LL.D. 



\ r. Bishop was for many years, by common 
^ I consent, the leading layman of all denomina- 
^■v^^ tions in the city of New York. By education, 
experience, character and personality, he was eminently 
fitted to be a leader either in a church, in a denom- 
ination, or in general Christian enterprises. He was 
born at Vernon, Oneida County, N. Y., in 1808. After 
many struggles in boyhood in securing an education, 
he entered Brown University, from which, in due time, 
he was graduated. The distinguished Dr. Wayland 
was at that time President of that honored seat of learn- 
ing, and Dr. Wayland's influence upon Dr. Bishop was 
as marked as it was permanent and inspiring. For some 
time after his graduation he was a tutor in the Univer- 
sity, and afterward he was one of the Fellows. He 
became later Superintendent of Schools in Providence, 
and later still, he occupied a similar position in the 
city of Boston. While performing the duties of this 



34 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

position, Harvard College honored itself by honoring 
him with the degree of Doctor of Laws. Soon after, 
coming to New York City, the Governor of the State 
appointed him a member of the State Board of Charities, 
and President Grant made him a member of the United 
States Indian Commission. He also rendered excellent 
service for years as a member of the Board of the Ameri- 
can Baptist Home Mission Society. He was also an 
influential member of the American Bible Society and a 
leader in our Baptist City Mission work, as well as in 
all other forms of benevolent work outside of our own 
denomination. He was recognized throughout the city 
by representatives of all denominations as a wise coun- 
selor, an able leader, and a benevolent giver. For two 
years he served the Baptist Home Mission Society as 
its Corresponding Secretary, bearing enormous burdens 
connected with its management, and doing all as a labor 
of love ; and when he retired from the position, he paid 
the entire indebtedness of the Society, which then 
amounted to $30,000. In all of these forms of benevo- 
lent work, he was nobly aided by Mrs. Bishop, who was 
the widow of another distinguished man, a man whose 
name will always be held in loving remembrance among 
Baptists and others, Garrett Noel Bleecker. She was 



Dr. Nathan Bishop, D. D. 35 

also the daughter of Mr. Ebenezer Cauldwell, to whom 
we have referred. The princely gifts of Dr. and Mrs. 
Bishop to all forms of Christian enterprise, and especially 
to the work of the Baptist denomination, entitle them to 
a high place in the lists of our wisest and most generous 
benefactors. 

Dr. Bishop was a member of the Board of Trustees 
of the Calvary Church, and by his wise counsels, as well 
as by his liberal gifts, greatly aided the work of the 
church. His presence was a benediction as well as an 
inspiration, and his endorsement of any cause gave it 
almost certain assurance of immediate success. He died 
as he lived, thinking only of his Lord and how best he 
could promote His cause. Among the last acts of his 
life, was the signing of checks with trembling hand for 
the cause of Christ, that he might joyously go into His 
immediate presence and render an account of his stew- 
ardship. He died in the service of his Lord, and in the 
triumphs of the faith, at Saratoga Springs, August 7th, 
1880. He was as unostentatious as he was earnest and 
consecrated. The city of New York has seldom known 
a nobler life, and the Baptist denomination mourned 
over his unexpected death as it had rejoiced in his 
noble life. 



~"&k 




T^ev. %obert Stuart [Mac^Arthur, T).D. 




n February 25TH, 1870, a call was extended to 
Robert Stuart MacArthur, then a student in 
the senior class of Rochester Theological Sem- 
inary, to become pastor when graduated from that insti- 
tution. He accepted the call, and on May 15th, 1870, 
he commenced his official service. It was a bold ven- 
ture for the church, and a brave undertaking for so 
young a man ; but the subsequent history of both has 
justified the entire wisdom of the choice. 

The Council called for his ordination met in the 
church, on Twenty-third Street, June 7th, 1870. It was 
composed of pastors and laymen from twenty-two 
churches — the two Associations had not at that time 
become one, as they now are. Dr. W. S. Mikels acted 
as moderator, and Dr. C. C. Norton as clerk. After an 
extended and clear statement by the candidate of his 
Christian experience, call to the ministry and views of 
Christian doctrine, the examination being eminently 



8 The Calvary Baptist Church. 



satisfactory to the members of the Council, it was unan- 
imously voted to approve his ordination, and accordingly 
the following order of service was observed on Thursday 
evening, June 16th. Devotional exercises by Rev. Chris- 
topher Rhodes, pastor Stanton Baptist Church, and 
Dr. J. R. Kendrick, pastor Tabernacle Baptist Church ; 
sermon by Dr. J. F. Elder, pastor Madison Avenue 
Baptist Church ; ordaining prayer by Rev. Christopher 
Rhodes ; charge to the candidate by Dr. R. J. W. Buck- 
land ; hand of fellowship by Dr. A. D. Gillette ; charge 
to the church by Dr. J. R. Kendrick, and benediction 
by the pastor. It was deeply interesting that two of the 
young pastor's predecessors should have taken part in 
the services of ordination. With the new pastor was 
initiated a new era of church life and of Christian work. 
The membership of the church numbered at that time 
only two hundred and thirty-eight. The annual con- 
tributions of the congregation for benevolent objects 
amounted to $4,752. The attendance at the services 
was small, and all the different agencies for church 
work were in a comparatively feeble condition. Al- 
though the new pastor was without experience, and 
direct from the exhausting work of the Seminary 
course, without rest, an immediate quickening and im- 



Rev. Robert Stuart Mac Arthur, D. D. 



provement were observable in all the departments of 
Christian activity. In five years the number of mem- 
bers had more than doubled, and the amount of the 
contributions for benevolence had increased more than 
sixfold. For the first ten years the average rate of 
increase was a net gain in membership of more than 
sixty-six per annum, and an average increase in the con- 
tributions of more than $14,000 per annum. The total 
amount of the contributions for benevolent objects for 
the year 1880 were $145,329, and the membership 
numbered nine hundred and five. 

In June, 1883, the number of members was 1,125, 
and the amount contributed for benevolence for the 
thirteen years nearly one million of dollars. In March, 
1882, $71,000 was subscribed at one morning service 
for home and foreign missionary work. So large a 
collection was probably never before taken for mis- 
sionary purposes in any church in America. It ought 
to be said, however, that this was the jubilee year in 
the history of the American Baptist Home Mission So- 
ciety, and a special effort was made to secure a great 
thanksgiving offering. For the first thirteen years six 
hundred and sixty -eight persons had been baptized, 
and enough more added by letter, etc., to make the 



4-0 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

net gain eight hundred and eighty-two. Five young 
men were ordained during the same period, and five 
members of the church sent out to work in the fields 
of Foreign Missions. 

By this time it had became evident that the church 
would soon be forced to move further up-town. Twen- 
ty-third Street had become crowded with business places, 
and the property had become too valuable to be retained 
for the poor accommodation it afforded. Again the cour- 
age of the church was brought to a test. Brethren J. 
H. Deane and W. A. Cauldwell made an offer of a plot 
in Fifty-seventh Street, near Sixth Avenue, which they 
had purchased in anticipation of this requirement. It 
cost $160,000, but was already worth much more. This 
location is a mile and a half above Twenty-third Street, 
and to many of the members it seemed to be quite too 
far away. It was advised by some that a compromise 
be made by securing a location in or near Thirty-fourth 
Street. A committee, composed of a majority opposed 
to moving so long a distance, was appointed to inves- 
tigate the whole subject. In the report of this committee 
the site on Fifty-seventh Street was unanimously recom- 
mended, and the church adopted the report with only 
one dissenting voice. In a few minutes the sum of 



Rev. Robert Stuart Mac Arthur, D. D. 41 

$93,000 was subscribed toward the erection of a suitable 
edifice, and the proceedings were stopped in order to 
give those "lawfully detained" an opportunity to have a 
share in the work. The committee of the Board of 
Trustees went to work at once, and the corner-stone 
of the new edifice was laid on May 29th, 1882, by 
Rev. Dr. MacArthur, assisted by Rev. A. K. Potter, 
D. D., of Springfield, Mass. ; Rev. John Hall, D. D., 
pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian; Rev. John 
A. Broadus, D. D., President of the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. ; Rev. Wm. M. 
Taylor, D.D., pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle Con- 
gregational Church ; the venerable Dr. Gillette, former 
pastor; Rev. Edward Bright, D. D., editor of the Ex- 
aminer; Mr. S. S. Constant, chairman of the Board 
of Trustees, and Mr. John H. Deane, chairman of the 
Building Committee. The corner-stone is in the south- 
east corner of the main tower, and is appropriately 
inscribed ; beneath it is a box containing a copy of the 
records of the church, various books and papers relating 
to Baptist history, and several religious and secular news- 
papers of that date. 

The chapel was opened for worship on Sunday, July 
8th, 1883. Dr.. MacArthur preached from Nehemiah x: 



42 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

39: "We will not forsake the house of our God." The 
opening, although in summer, when many of the con- 
gregation were out of town, was most auspicious. The 
congregation was large and the people were full of hope. 
Worship was held in the old church on one Sunday, 
and in the chapel of the new church the next Sunday. 
Those who feared that the removal was a mistake, and 
that beginning in midsummer was hazardous, were glad 
to be rebuked for their want of faith and their errors of 
judgment. God gave His blessing even with the open- 
ing service. His presence and benediction marked every 
hour of this glad day. 

The first service of public worship was held in the 
main auditory on Sunday, December 23d, 1883 ; the 
pastor preaching from Joshua iv : 6 : " What mean ye by 
these stones ?" A balance of $60,000 was subscribed 
within two weeks, and the special services of dedication 
were held on Sunday, February 3d, 1884. Dr. Mac- 
Arthur was assisted in the morning services by Rev. J. 
B. Calvert and Rev. Norman Fox, D. D. The text of 
his sermon was II Chron. vi : 41 : " Now, therefore, arise 
O Lord God, into thy resting-place," etc. Rev. Edward 
Bright, D. D., offered the dedicatory prayer. In the 
afternoon a service was held, consisting of Scripture 



Rev. Robert Stuart Mac Arthur, D. D. 43 

readings and other religious exercises, followed by a 
series of brief addresses from the following neighboring 
pastors ; Dr. Howard Crosby, of the Fourth Avenue 
Presbyterian Church, Justin D. Fulton, D. D., of the 
Centennial Baptist Church, Brooklyn ; W. S. Sabine, 
D. D., of the First Reformed Episcopal Church; C. S. 
Robinson, D. D., of the Memorial Presbyterian ; Dr. O. 
H. Tiffany, of the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church; and J. F. Elder, D.D., of the Baptist Church of 
the Epiphany. In the evening the pastor was assisted 
by Dr. E. A. Reed, of the Madison Avenue Reformed 
Church ; Dr. John Hall, of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian 
Church, preached on II Corinthians iv : 6 : " For God, 
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." A 
noteworthy feature of this service, illustrating the spirit 
of the church and the pastor, was a collection, amounting 
to $426, to aid the Baptist Church in Gothenburgh, 
Sweden. 








Catherine Wheel Window and Central Doors. 



The Church Edifice, 



- t is situated on the north side of Fifty-seventh 
^ Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The 

Oil- site is one hundred and sixty feet front, by one 
hundred feet and five inches in depth, and its cost 
was $160,000. The main building stands on the west side 
of the lot, and the chapel is in the eastern wing. The 
entire front of the edifice, including the chapel, is one 
hundred and forty-eight feet ; the rear is one hundred 
and sixty feet, and the depth, one hundred feet, five 
inches. The material below the water table is Albion 
red sandstone ; above it is Lockport stone, and is rock- 
faced. 

This stone is hard and firm, almost equal to granite 
and is regarded as among the most desirable kinds of 
stone in use for a church building, The color is a light 
gray, and is warm and agreeable. The trimmings are of 
a similar color, and are from the quarries at Berea, Ohio. 
The style of architecture is the Early Decorated English 
Gothic, which flourished in England in the latter part 



46 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

of the thirteenth century, and the early part of the 
fourteenth. 

The general appearance is solid and massive. It is 
severely simple in its sparse exterior ornamentation, and 
stands out on the line of the street in bold prominence. 
On the line dividing the main building from the chapel 
is a tall tower terminating in a graceful spire, two hun- 
dred and twenty-nine feet high. This is stone to the 
top, where it is surmounted by a stone cross. At the 
base of the spire proper is an original and most effective 
treatment, consisting of four short turrets connected with 
dormer windows between them by flying buttresses, and 
guarded at the foot by conventional gargoyles carved in 
stone. The front of the building is broken by five 
porches, the two center ones at the left of the tower, 
together with the main gable above, being combined into 
one impressive facade by a large traceried Catherine- 
wheel window, enclosed in a Gothic arch. The west 
corner is flanked by an octagonal tower, about twenty 
feet higher than the main gable. The east corner is 
relieved by a gabled, turreted tower of smaller propor- 
tions. These, combined with the gables of varying 
altitude, complete the outlines of a front at once attrac- 
tive, beautiful and instructive. The porch in the tower 



The Church Edifice. 47 

is made of large blocks of granite ; there are highly 
polished Scotch granite pillars, with richly carved capi- 
tals, on each side of each door. These are so dressed 
as to form the interior finish of this part of the vesti- 
bule. Each of the five doorways is flanked by triple 
columns of Scotch granite with richly carved Gothic 
capitals. The nine lancet windows in the main gable, 
above the Catherine-wheel, are separated by eight 
short columns of polished red granite. The whole con- 
stitutes an ingenious and artistic adaptation of a much 
admired style of old-time architecture to the require- 
ments of modern forms of church life, and is eminently 
creditable to the accomplished and painstaking Architect, 
Mr. John R. Thomas, of 162 Broadway, New York. 



The cMairi ^Auditory. 



w I he main building is ninety-four feet front by one 
I hundred feet, five inches deep. The vestibule 
extends across the entire front, and varies in 
width from nine to sixteen feet. It is wainscoted and 
ceiled with panelled cherry. The floor is of encaustic 
tiles in ornamental designs. Two stairways at the ends 
of the vestibule lead to the galleries ; five large double 
doors open into the main auditory. 

The interior appointments and decorations of the main 
auditory are exceedingly complete and beautiful. The 
floor slants toward the pulpit an inch to the foot. The 
seats are of polished cherry, arranged in amphitheatrical 
form, with six aisles radiating from the pulpit platform. 
There are also two shorter aisles starting from the 
wall-aisles, and one from the middle of the vestibule, 
which extend half way down toward the common center. 
The pews vary in size from those that accommodate 
one person to those which seat seven to eight. The 



50 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

front of the pulpit platform is circular, and finished in 
handsome Gothic panels. A rich, mellow light is re- 
ceived through more than forty stained glass windows, 
two of which are very large, and also from the center 
of the ceiling, in which is a lantern forty feet square 
and six feet high. The top of this lantern is divided 
into nine panels, the center one of which is carried 
up into a dome ten feet high and thirteen feet across. 
The sides of the dome are made up of a series of 
arched panels of stained glass, and the ceiling of the 
entire lantern is of stained glass in beautiful geometrical 
designs. The rest of the ceiling is divided by mould- 
ings of cherry three feet in depth, into squares which 
are filled in with plaster and warmly decorated. These 
mouldings terminate at the cornice in short columns 
which rest on carved cherubs, twenty-four in number. 
Each of these figures clasps a shield-shaped tablet, on 
which, in gold, are appropriate symbols expressive of 
the Christian faith. Between the ceiling and the walls 
there is a wide cove, which springs from a heavy cor- 
nice of cherry, wrought into artistically designed panels. 
All the wood-work is of cherry, finished in its natural 
color. The cost of the wood-work alone, for the church 
and chapel, was $80,000. 



The Main Auditory. 51 

The windows are deserving of special notice. They 
are of stained glass, and the arrangement and blending 
of figures and tints exhibit great taste and skill. Glass 
jewels are numerous in the large wheel-window in the 
front, which is twenty feet in diameter, and contains 
several thousand different pieces of glass. For beauty 
of design and richness of effect it is worthy of care- 
ful study. Architects have frequently copied this beau- 
tiful window, and photographers often have made prints 
of it, which have been sold to architects and others 
for the beauty of the stone tracery. The large win- 
dow opposite this one, in the north end of the build- 
ing, is smaller, but equally beautiful. Back of the 
pulpit are seven figure -windows, illustrating some of 
the principal events in the life of Jesus. Beginning on 
the left, the first represents the Adoration by the Magi. 
The windows bear in their order these inscriptions : 
" They fell down and worshipped Him," "To the Glory 
of God and to the Memory of Nathan Bishop, LL.D. 
Born, 1808. Died, 1880." The next window represents 
Christ as a Boy in the Temple, hearing and asking 
questions — "They found Him in the Temple," "To 
the Glory of God and in Loving Remembrance of 
Ebenezer Cauldwell. Born, 1791. Died, 1875." The 



52 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

next window represents Christ knocking at the door — 
" Behold I stand at the door and knock," " To the 
Glory of God and in Memory of His Faithful Servant, 
the Rev. John Dowling, D. D. Born, 1807. Pastor, 
1 850-1 85 2. Died, 1878." The next is the Baptism in 
Jordan, with the inscription — " Thus it becometh us to 
fulfil all righteousness," " To the Glory of God and in 
Memory of His Faithful Servant, the Rev. A. D. Gil- 
lette, D. D. Born, 1807. Pastor, 1852-1863. Died, 
1882." The next is Christ as the Good Shepherd — "I 
am the Good Shepherd," "To the Honor of Jesus Christ 
and in Memory of His Faithful Servant, the Rev. R. J. 
W. Buckland, D. D. Born, 1829. Pastor, 1 864-1 869. 
Died, 1877." On the right is a representation of the 
Resurrection — " He is not here, for He is risen," " To 
the Glory of God and in Memory of Samuel S. Constant. 
Born, December 19, 181 7. Died, January 11, 1885." 
The last represents the Ascension — " While He blessed 
them, He was carried up into heaven," "To the Glory 
of God and in Memory of Robert Colgate. Born, Jan- 
uary 29, 181 2. Died, July 4, 1885. This last is a 
modification of Raphael's famous picture of the Trans- 
figuration now in the Vatican. The temple scene is 
after Hoffman's great picture in the Dresden Gallery, 



The Main Auditory. 53 

and the Knocking at the Door is by Schoenher. The 
others are composites, executed with rare taste and 
skill. The harmony of tints and the depth and ac- 
curacy of the perspectives are especially satisfactory. 
The apexes of the four side windows are filled with a 
rich canopy wrought out in the colors of the glass, 
while small rosette windows above bear the Greek 
emblems A (Alpha) and fl (Omega). 

On the west side of the church, above the gallery, 
there are two memorial windows deserving of descrip- 
tion. The first is a representation of Moses descend- 
ing from Mount Sinai with the tables of the Law 
in his hand. These are so arranged that five of the 
commandments are supposed to be on the inner side 
and five on the outer. The first four are indicated, 
but the words are not legible. The opening words of 
the fifth, however, can be easily read, " Honor thy father 
and thy mother." There is no name on this window 
indicating either the donor or those to whose memory 
it has been given. The inscription at the bottom con- 
sists of the words, "To the Glory of God and in Honor 
of Sainted Parents, by a Grateful Son." The son is a 
prominent member of the church, but the parents never 
belonged to the Calvary Church, and were known to 



54 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

but a few of the members. It was the wish of the son 
that no name should appear, and that only he and a 
few other friends should know to whose memory the 
window was devoted. The other window, separated 
from this one by a mullion, but included in the same 
frame, is a representation of the Angel of the Annun- 
ciation. The angel is supposed to be announcing to 
Mary, the mother of our Lord, the honor which has 
been conferred upon her. This window contains the 
inscription, "To the Glory of God and in Loving Re- 
membrance of Josephine, wife of Alfred Taylor. Born, 
February 18th, 1856. Died, April 8th, 1886." There 
is a beautiful blending of colors in both of these 
windows. The treatment was necessarily largely gov- 
erned by the shape of the windows, but skillful use has 
been made of all the conditions. It is hoped that 
eventually all the windows on the west side of the 
church will be figure and memorial windows. 

The mural decorations of the north end of the main 
auditory are correspondingly elaborate and significant. 
The general design is similar to that which extends over 
the other walls, but five colors are employed here, while 
there are only three on the side walls. The design is 
a cross and a crown (Heb. xii : 2) in combination, sur- 



The Main Auditory. 55 

rounded by a quarter-foil composed of vines, bearing 
leaves and clusters of grapes (John xv : 5), which alter- 
nate with the emblem for the Trinity — three interwoven 
circles. This is surrounded by a great circle, enclosed 
by a wreath of the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of 
Sharon (Solomon's Song ii : 1 ). The manner in which 
Christ is made the special theme in this design, as in 
every part of the construction and decoration of the 
entire edifice, is sufficiently evident. 

On the right and left of the top of the central win- 
dow are the letters Alpha and Omega executed in 
vermilion, and at the extreme right and left between 
the windows and the organs are tablets in maroon, bear- 
ing a monogram of the letters I. H. S. and X (chi) 
P (rho), which together stand for the names of Jesus 
Christ. The I. H. S. has often been considered to sig- 
nify Iesus (Jesus), Hominum Salvator, Jesus, the Saviour 
of Men, or In Hac (Cruce) Salus, In this (Cross) is Salva- 
tion ; but these are arbitrary interpretations. The letters 
are not Latin, but Greek. The Latin interpretation is 
of comparatively recent origin ; and it is now practically 
abandoned by all who carefully study the history of the 
symbol. The writer has traced the history back to in- 
scriptions in the Catacombs, and is entirely certain that 



56 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

he gives the true interpretation. Without doubt the 
letters originally were IHS, the first three letters of 
1H20T2 (Iesous) the Greek form of the word Jesus. 
Were illustrations given of the early use of the letters, 
the conclusion reached would be made altogether in- 
disputable. A note in Webster's Dictionary, first ob- 
served after the above was written, says : " I. H. S. 
(Iesus [or Jestis] Hominum Salvator), Jesus the Saviour 
of Men. Originally written IH2 and intended as an 
abbreviation of IH20T2, the Greek form of the word 
Jesus. This fact was afterward forgotten, and the 
Greek H (eta) having been mistaken for the Latin H 
(aitch), and a Latin S substituted for the Greek 2, the 
three letters were supposed to be the initials of three 
separate words, and a signification was accordingly found 
out for each." The two monograms and the two letters, 
read in connection, signify Jesus Christ, the Alpha and 
the Omega (Rev. i: 8). The XP are the first two letters 
of the Greek word Xpiorog.] 

From the cherubs, on either side of the central win- 
dow, depend two tablets, and on these are inscribed six 
emblems employed by the primitive Christians, together 
with appropriate Greek and Latin inscriptions. Begin- 
ning at the top, on the west side of the window, we 



The Main Auditory. 57 

have a circle, indicating Eternity, and in it the words 
Ecce Agnus Dei — Behold the Lamb of God. Within 
the circle stands the Lamb with flying banner. Next 
comes the circle with the famous symbol of three fishes, 
representing the Trinity. At the lower part of the cir- 
cle is the Greek word ixors, fish ; around the circle 
are the words \r\Gnvq Xpioror Oebv Tlog ZGiT7Jp y Jesus Christ, 
Son of God, Saviour. The initial letters of these 
words, it will be observed, form the word ixers. The 
early Christians used this symbol constantly ; it was put 
over doors, on tea-urns and elsewhere. To their heathen 
enemies it meant nothing; to themselves it stood, as we 
have shown above, for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. 
It also came to stand for baptism. As the fish went into 
the water, so did the Christian believer in baptism. It 
was also used to signify the great draft of fishes, when 
Jesus stood on the shore and gave command regarding 
the casting of the net. The circle indicates eternity and 
completeness. Another emblem is the candelabrum, with 
the words Christus et Ecclesia Lux Muncii. On the 
right side of the window is a scepter and crown, with a 
myrtle wreath and the words Esto fidelis usque ad mor- 
tem, et dado tibi coronam vitce. Below this is a descend- 
ing dove, representing the Spirit, and encircled by the 



58 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

words Spiritus Dei descendens sicut columba; and the last 
consists of three circles running into one circle, from 
which springs a cross ; the words In nomen Patris et 
Filii et Spiritus Sancti, are on the outer circle. 

Immediately back of the pulpit, over the baptistery, 
which is open only when in use, is a triplet of panels 
deeply carved in cherry. Each panel bears a special 
medallion twenty inches in diameter. The first on the 
left is a monogram of the Greek letters XP, encircled 
by a wreath of myrtle. This symbol stands for the word 
Christ. The middle one is a triangle containing a cross 
and crown, from which a dove is descending, the whole 
being supported within the circle by carved figures of 
angels on either side, and representing the Third Person 
of the Trinity. The third medallion sets forth the defi- 
nite doctrine of the Trinity. It consists of three seg- 
ments of equal circles so placed as to form an equilateral 
triangle. At each point of intersection, and in the cen- 
ter, is a carved boss, all being connected by three radii. 
The central boss bears the word DEUS; the others 
have, respectively, PATER, FILIUS, SPIRITUS, and 
the radii display the word est, while each segment reads 
non est. The whole is included in a circle, so that it 
may be read in any direction with the same result : 




Chancel— Lancet Window, Trinity and Baptismal 
Tablets. North End. 



The Main Auditory. 59 

PATER est DEUS; FILIUS est DEUS; SPIRITUS 
est DEUS; PATER nan est FILIUS, etc. On the 
panel under the symbol which represents Christ, and 
directly over the baptistery, we have the words of the 
Son — " Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," 
uttered in connection with His baptism ; and on the 
panel directly under the symbol of the Third Person, the 
words — "The Holy Spirit descended** Like a dove upon 
Him," concerning the Spirit as spoken at the baptism 
of the Son ; and on the panel under the symbol repre- 
senting the Three Persons the words of the Father — 
" This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," 
spoken on the same august occasion. Immediately 
above these panels are the words, " Buried with Him 
in baptism," and beneath, " Risen with Him*** walk 
in newness of life." On a bar above the three medal- 
lions is boldly carved the inscription: "In this Place 
will I Give Peace;" and at each end are composite 
volutes supporting a triangle, on which is carved a sym- 
bol of the Burning Bush, the symbol of the Church of 
Scotland, and on the other side the Cross and Crown. 

The Communion Table is of polished cherry, massive 
and elaborately carved. The front of the communion 
table is equally divided into three panels. On the left 



60 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

is a monogram of the letters I. H. S., on a ground of 
passion flowers, which intertwine with the letters. The 
center panel is a triangle representing the Trinity, with 
light raying out from the center in all directions. On 
the right is a monogram of the Greek letters XP. On 
the upper border of the table are the words, in raised 
letters : ''This do in remembrance of Me;" and on the 
lower border, under the symbols which we have already 
described, are found the words, "Died 1879, Our Mother 
— Elizabeth Catharine Hall. In memoriam, 1884." This 
beautiful table was the gift of Mr. John H. Hall and 
Miss Martha J. Hall, in memory of their sainted mother, 
who for many years was an honored and beloved mem- 
ber of the Calvary Church. The table is beautiful in 
itself, is well adapted to its sacred purpose, and is a 
tender memorial of the departed mother and a token 
of affection on the part of the son and daughter. 

The windows on the sides of the church are of various 
geometrical designs in soft, quiet colors, and of a rich and 
beautiful effect. The four windows at the sides of the 
wheel-window, in the front of the Church, have in the 
top, on one side, Alpha in a triangle on a trefoil ground, 
with a descending dove in the middle panel of one, 
and a golden star in the top of the other, with an 



The Main Auditory. 61 

interlocked xp, on a background of azure. On the 
other side, the first has the three nails of the cross in 
the top, with a monogram of I. H. S. in the middle 
panel ; Q is in the top of the other, and the middle 
panel bears a Lamb with a floating banner. The inter- 
mediate panels are artistic combinations of the fruit, 
blossoms and leaves of the pomegranate. These win- 
dows are richly studded with jewels and corrugated and 
opalescent glass ; likewise glass of different degrees of 
thickness is used with great profusion in all the win- 
dows, to produce the iridescent and mellow effects so 
noticeable in comparison with much work that goes by 
the same name. 

The carpets and cushions are of an olive shade, ex- 
cepting the pulpit carpet, which is maroon. 

A gallery extends around three sides of the church in 
a graceful horseshoe curve, and sweeps down toward the 
pulpit in unison with the inclination of the floor. It 
has been pronounced by competent judges to be the 
most graceful sweep of gallery in the country. The 
rear gallery is seated with pews, but the two side gal- 
leries are divided into a series of open boxes, consisting 
of three levels, and seated with upholstered birchen 
chairs. 



62 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

The seating capacity of the entire auditory is 1,480, 
reckoned on the liberal allowance of eighteen inches for 
each person ; and as families sit, young and old to- 
gether, there is ample room for an audience of 1,550. 
On Easter Sunday, 1888, the congregation, by actual 
count, numbered 1,763, chairs being used in some open 
spaces, and some persons being seated on the steps 
in the galleries. The richly carved ceiling, the soft 
decorations and the beautifully finished wood -work, 
combine to make one of the most pleasant audience 
rooms anywhere to be found. There is no imitation 
in any part of the building ; no paint, no staining, no 
imitation. All is what it pretends to be. This is a 
sincere building ! Deception is abominable anywhere ; 
it is almost criminal in a house dedicated to the wor- 
ship of God. 



Pulpit and Parapet Screen 



(b he 



he material of this elaborate work is Antique 
Bronze, and it consists of three bays divided by 
columns and capitals; the central panel containing 
the Cross of Jerusalem, and the sides the symbols 
of wheat and grape. 

The parapet screen to the right and left is a series of 
Gothic arches and columns, terminating in panels of the 
Evangelists, modeled after photographs of Thorwaldsen's 
originals. The length of the total work, twenty-five 
feet, is well divided in the design by a series of 
irregular levels, formed by the intricately carved top 
moulding. 

The cuts on the following pages show the pulpit 
proper, the end panels and sections of the Gothic arches 
and columns. 

The effect of the whole is at once impressive and 
dignified, while the details are elaborate enough to be 
interesting on close observation. The work has been 
designed under the supervision of the pastor, and exe- 
cuted by Messrs. Lamb of New York. 




^s 



A^v m^- - — - ?m>- - . ,- - mm $ 





WEST END. 




EAST END. 



East and West Ends of Pulpit Screen, with Arches 
and Medallions. 




If" 







The Organ. 



(^) he Organ is the work of the celebrated builders, 
J. H. & C. S. Odell, of New York, and is one 
of the largest in the city. The pipes are dis- 
tributed between two cases located in the ends of the 
galleries, on opposite sides of the pulpit. An open 
space in front of each case affords ample room for two 
chorus choirs of sixteen voices each. The instrument 
has forty-one speaking registers, divided between three 
manuals, great, swell and solo, and a pedal. There are 
thirteen stops in the great organ, fourteen in the swell, 
eight in the solo, and six in the pedal. The swell 
chamber has a double set of shutters to facilitate an 
effective crescendo; pneumatic tubular action is applied 
to the manual basses instead of the ordinary trackers ; 
there are eight pneumatic composition movements in 
the great organ and an equal number in the swell. 
These are operated by means of small ivory knobs, 
projecting between the manual key -boards; reversible 



64 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

couplers are similarly disposed. Thirty-eight pneumatic 
tubes pass across back of the pulpit, beneath a heavy 
moulding, making the connection between the key-board 
and the most distant point of delivery a distance of 
sixty-eight feet. The organ is admittedly one of the 
finest in the city. In the basement is a steam engine, 
by which air is forced from the large automatic bellows 
below up into two smaller reservoirs, one of which 
is attached to each division of the instrument. The 
cases are Gothic in style, and are built of the same 
warm, bright cherry, with which the whole interior of 
the auditory is constructed. 

Four great coronas of polished brass depend from 
the middle of each of the four sides of the central 
lantern, which not only afford light at night, but add 
to the reverent and impressive aspect of the whole in- 
terior. 



The Chapel. 



It opens into the main auditory on the east side, 
and is a parallelogram in form, except that the 
east wall, opposite the platform, is a segment of a 
circle. The outside measurement is sixty-three by one 
hundred feet. In the basement, at the front, is a large 
room built for a kitchen, with all needed conveniences, 
communicating by outside door with the street and by 
ample stairways and an elevator with the rooms above. 
This room is furnished with small tables and chairs, and 
is occupied on Sundays by the Chinese department of the 
Sunday-school. The chapel itself is entered by two doors, 
one through the tower and another at the side near the 
rear, designed more especially for the infant scholars. 
Two stairways near these entrances lead to the galleries. 
The front and rear are divided into two stories, which 
are separated from the principal room by sliding glass 
doors. In the front, the lower room, fifteen by twenty 
feet, is used as the pastors study, for which it is excel- 



66 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

lently adapted. The room above it is called the Ladies' 
Parlor. It is fifteen by twenty-eight feet in size, and 
is occupied on Sundays by a large Bible class. At the 
rear, the first floor is divided into four infant class 
rooms, which are separated from the main room and 
also from each other, when desired, by sliding glass 
partitions. These rooms are furnished with low settees, 
a light-toned organ, and every appliance for making the 
little ones comfortable and assisting in their instruction. 
Above the infant class rooms are four Bible class rooms, 
twelve by fifteen feet each. A large gallery, extending 
around the circular side, connects the front and rear 
rooms of the second floor, and furnishes a desirable 
place for Bible classes. The entire chapel can be con- 
verted into one large audience room on a moment's 
notice. The seating capacity for an average school is 
one thousand. The wood-work of the wainscoting, gal- 
lery front, doors and seats, is all of ash finished in its 
natural color. The front of the gallery is a series of 
panels neatly executed, and the entire wood-work of the 
chapel, as well as of the main building, exhibits a high 
degree of mechanical skill. The ceiling is divided into 
three panels by heavy ash mouldings. Light is received 
through no less than fifty windows of stained glass, and 



The Chapel. 67 



a skylight or " lantern" of stained glass, twenty-four by 
thirty feet, rises to a height of live feet out of the 
middle panel of the ceiling. The rest of the ceiling and 
the walls are decorated in soft colors, and illuminated 
by Scripture texts in gold. Texts are also wrought in 
the glass transoms over the sliding doors. Two large 
double doors open into the main auditory and render 
seats in the chapel serviceable in case of overflowing 
congregations. The wall between the chapel and the 
main auditory is further broken by twelve ornamental 
windows. 

The acoustic properties of both audience rooms are 
perfect. Heat is supplied to all parts of the building 
in connection with the system of ventilation, by the 
admirable method of indirect steam radiation. A shaft 
five feet square is at each end of the partition wall 
between the main building and the chapel ; in one of 
these, forty-five feet above the floor, is a ventilating 
fan-wheel thirty-six inches in diameter, actuated by the 
twelve horse-power engine in the basement. This fan 
draws the impure air from both audience rooms through 
unobservable openings in the glass ceilings, and pours 
it out on the roof, while fresh air, descending the other 
shaft, is distributed by a system of air boxes in the 



68 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

basement to a number of large steam radiators, by 
which it is properly warmed ; it is then admitted through 
registers in the floor, with the result that the entire 
systems of warming and ventilation are under perfect 
control, and free from all objections. 




S 



3 



^ I 



^ 



5 



Co 



History of the Sunday-School. 



(^ HE Si 



Q) 



he school now connected with the Calvary Baptist 
Church was organized December 6th, 1847, under 
the name of The Hope Chapel Sunday-school, 
at the Coliseum Building, 450 Broadway, near Grand 
Street. From there it soon moved to the basement of 
718-720 Broadway, near Astor Place. It was trans- 
ferred to the building on Twenty-third Street on the 
7th of January, 1854, where it remained until its re- 
moval, July 8th, 1883, to its present home on Fifty- 
seventh Street. The "golden text" of that Sunday still 
stands upon the wall of the chapel as a memorial of 
that event. 

At the organization of the school it united with the 
New York Sunday-school Union, and received from 
them a donation of fifty Bibles and fifty Union hymn- 
books ; and the subsequent purchase of a ten -dollar 
library, a five-dollar book -case and a banner, made, for 
those days, a very respectable outfit for a school of its 



jo The Calvary Baptist Church. 

size. It remained in association with this Union, which 
embraced almost all the Sunday-schools in the city, for 
many years, and under its direction paraded the streets 
to join in the celebration of the May Anniversaries. 
One of the most memorable of these was in the year 
1 85 1, when thousands of children assembled in Castle 
Garden to listen to the glorious notes of the famous 
Jenny Lind, who kindly volunteered to sing for their 
entertainment. 

The first Superintendent of the school was Henry 
Estwick, who, although he remained only one year at 
its head, became so thoroughly identified with it, and 
continued to be so helpful to it during all the remain- 
ing years of his life, that it seemed to be guarded 
by his fatherly protection, and borne upon his loving 
heart without cessation, from the first day of its exist- 
ence until, forty years after, he bade good-bye to all 
earthly associations and friends. 

During those forty years the position of Superinten- 
dent was occupied by thirteen successors, several, how- 
ever, only for a few months. Stephen Salisbury, 1848 
Joseph P. Simpson, 1849; Abram M. Fanning, 1850-52 
Gasherie DeWitt, 1853-54; H. H. Salmon, 1854-56 
Rufus F. Andrews, 1857-60; James Sanford, 1861 ; John 



The Sunday-School. 71 

M. Davies, 1861 ; Thomas Playford, 1862; Benjamin F. 
Stone, 1863-64; Alfred M. Loomis, M. D., 1865-67; 
Wm. A. Cauldwell, 1868-81 ; James Duane Squires, 1882. 

The attendance of thirty scholars on the first Sunday, 
December 6th, 1847, soon increased to one hundred and 
thirty, but there is no official account of the numbers 
present during many subsequent years, the principal 
items recorded being the hymns selected, the chapters 
of the Bible read, and the state of the weather each 
Sunday. 

In 1853, the disturbance caused by the contemplated 
change of location disorganized the school, many of the 
scholars leaving to join the Tabernacle and other schools 
near by, and only six male and seven female teachers 
remaining; but the vigorous efforts made by Mr. De- 
Witt and his energetic wife (daughter of the former 
pastor, Dr. Dowling), followed by those of Mr. Salmon, 
restored its numbers and efficiency, so that No. 16 was 
soon considered one of the largest Baptist Sunday- 
schools in the city, and probably numbered fully two 
hundred. 

Among the earliest teachers in the school, one (Bro- 
ther James Edwards) continued for thirty years, until 
obliged to leave the city; and another (Brother B. F. 



j 2 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Stone), after thirty years, still appears regularly at the 
head of his class, a monument of constancy and fidelity 
such as few Sunday-schools can show. 

During Mr. Andrews' term of office, the church 
changed the afternoon service to evening, and the 
school, by a vote, decided to hold but one session, and 
that in the afternoon. Previously the morning session 
began at nine, and the afternoon at two o'clock. Both 
sessions had been well attended. In fact, during Mr. 
Andrews' administration, the school was very prosperous ; 
the room was full to overflowing, every seat occupied, 
and the average attendance about three hundred. 

In 1 86 1 came the call for volunteers for the war. It 
was responded to by the Superintendent, Mr. Sanford, 
and by many of the young men and teachers, and the 
school felt the effect of this drain for several succeeding 
years. Under Dr. Loomis it again revived ; but the 
indications are that from the time of starting, in 1847, 
up to the year 1870, the average attendance could not 
have exceeded two hundred. In the latter year there 
was a marked increase in the number of scholars, and 
this growth was continuous until, in 1879, there was re- 
ported on the record of one Sunday five hundred and 
eighteen scholars and eighteen teachers present. 



The Sunday-School. j$ 



THE REPORT OF ATTENDANCE. 

The largest average attendance of scholars enrolled 
from 1874 to 1879 i s three hundred and forty. The 
largest attendance during the year was on December 
23d, 1888, when there were present, including teachers 
and officers, eight hundred and eighteen. The average 
attendance for that year was five hundred and seventy- 
one. The largest number of scholars in attendance in 
the Chinese Department for the year 1889, was twenty- 
nine ; in the Armenian Department for the same year, 
the largest number in attendance at one time was forty. 

The growth of the school in 1870, in the Twenty- 
third Street Church, compelled the introduction of many 
changes and improvements in the basement room, which 
was used not only for the Sunday-school, but also as the 
lecture room and the parlor of the church. These 
changes contributed largely to the comfort of the whole 
congregation ; and the once dark, dingy and deserted 
lecture room became bright and joyous with Christian 
worship, and social intercourse, and consecrated work, 
which wedded the hearts of the people together in love 
and sympathy. Still, even after all improvements had 
been made, in looking back at the inconveniences of 



74 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

those days, when the Sunday-school was cut up into 
three parts, the basement, the body and the gallery of 
the church ; when teachers sat groaning upon backless 
stools ; before the wheezy little melodeon was supplanted 
by the piano ; when pure air and bright light were 
almost unknown visitors, and carpets an untried luxury ; 
it seems wonderful that the work was so successful and 
so attractive. 

THE FINANCES OF THE SCHOOL. 

The finances of the school seem always to have been 
managed with prudence. "No debt" has been its motto. 
Its constitution reads, "The school shall not be made 
liable for any expenses until there are funds to meet 
such expenses and all outstanding debts." A change 
was introduced about 1868 in the manner of supporting 
the school. Previous to that, the teachers had not only 
the privilege of giving their time and labor, but of being 
assessed every month for the support of the school, and 
then the further privilege of going around among the 
congregation to beg the balance needed. It was decided, 
with the approval of the Trustees, to throw the school 
entirely upon the church, and by two public collections 
each year test the sympathy of the congregation with 



The Sunday-School. 75 



the self-denial and faithfulness of the teachers. The 
plan succeeded admirably, and is still continued. The 
church has grown to recognize more fully that the school 
is her own child, and to feel a deeper interest in its 
plans and its prosperity. 

From 1866 to 1889 there were contributed nearly 
$15,000 for defraying the expenses of the school. The 
money collected from the scholars has always been used 
for missionary purposes exclusively, and the missionary 
spirit has been fostered with systematic care. Explicit 
knowledge of the objects to which gifts are made, and, 
as far as possible, of the results accomplished, is com- 
municated, and the effect is seen in the regular increase 
of the contributions of the young people with the growth 
of the school, and in their zeal and helpfulness in all 
kinds of missionary work. The amount passing through 
the hands of the different treasurers for the past twenty- 
four years is reported to be $14,575.93, or $607.34 per 
annum. In addition to this missionary collection, a con- 
tribution has been taken, near the close of each year 
since 1880, to supply twenty or thirty poor families with 
a Christmas dinner. These Christmas Dinner Collections 
average, for nine years, $55.00 per annum. Still further 
benevolent work has been accomplished by the establish- 



j6 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

ment, in 1885, of a Fresh Air Fund, under the direction 
of the Sunday-school, from which has been drawn the 
expenses of providing a summer vacation of two weeks 
for more than eighty children connected with the Cal- 
vary Church Sunday-schools. 

SELECTION OF LESSONS. 

Of the changes in Sunday-school work that have come 
in with the lapse of years, probably the most marked and 
important are in the selection of lessons and methods 
of teaching them. In the earlier years of this school, 
no doubt, verses were committed to memory by the 
pupils, but if any record was made thereof, it has 
entirely disappeared. One scholar, Mr. Henry S. 
Marlor, still treasures a handsome book, presented by 
the Superintendent in 1851, in which is inscribed the 
statement that he had "recited 1,351 verses in five 
months." 

It was long the custom to announce at the close of 
the session what would be the lesson of the following 
Sunday, but there does not appear to have been strict 
uniformity observed ; and, in many cases, the classes 
became a law unto themselves, selected their own lessons 
from any part of the Bible they chose, and often the 



The Sunday-School. j~ 



teachers came with no special lesson to teach, and the 
scholar with no lesson to recite. 

In 1866 the Rev. Dr. Buckland, at the request of the 
Superintendent, arranged a series of lessons, which was 
adopted by the school ; and the present pastor followed 
the same plan, and thus prepared the way for the intro- 
duction into this school of the National, and subsequently 
of the International Series of lessons, which has become 
almost universally adopted among the Sunday-schools of 
the world. 

As one of the results, our record of last year (1889) 
reports over 33,000 verses, selected from the regular 
lessons only, recited by the school, no one scholar being 
permitted to recite more than four verses a week. This 
is but one indication of the many steps of progress 
made towards better plans of instruction, and more sys- 
tematic and effective ways of deepening the impressions 
of truth upon the minds and hearts of the scholars. 

About the year 1870 there was presented for the 
first time, at the Christmas festival, an annual report 
of the principal facts of interest regarding the school, 
its membership, expenses, donations, etc., with special 
mention of those who had been most faithful in attend- 
ance and recitations. To be entered upon its Roll of 



yS The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Honor became a stimulant to many of the scholars, 
and some of them appear upon it for many consecutive 
years. As an additional incentive to the memorizing of 
the lessons, a reward in money was given, which reward, 
however, was not paid to the scholars, but into a fund, 
called the Benevolent Fund, from which, during the year, 
distribution was made to the sick and needy, through 
a City Missionary, whose quarterly reports told the 
children of the many sad cases of poverty, illness and 
distress which had thus been relieved. About two hun- 
dred dollars a year have been thus earned. 

From this " Fund," also, many charitable societies of 
our city have received assistance year by year, and in 
letters of grateful acknowledgment have reported to the 
scholars the result of their benevolent and timely aid. 

While the May Anniversary, and especially the Christ- 
mas Festival, have always been cherished as social 
occasions for the freest enjoyment by the scholars, the 
discipline of the school has never been suffered to be 
relaxed, or its religious character and interests to be in 
any degree disturbed by them. They have been made 
the means of drawing parents, as well as children, by 
their attractions, into a Christian home for both. 

It is a matter of especial rejoicing, since our removal 



The Sunday-School. 79 



to the location on Fifty -seventh Street, that we are 
able to report, from year to year, at our festival occa- 
sions, as the crowning triumph of the year and the 
highest inspiration of our chorus of praise, such large 
additions to the church from the membership of the 
school. 

By the constitution of the school it was made obli- 
gatory on the teachers to hold a monthly meeting for 
the transaction of business. For many years these 
meetings took place at the church on Sunday, but for 
the last twenty years they have been held either at the 
home of the Superintendent or of some member of 
the church who kindly offered the use of his house. 
This has given an opportunity for more intimate ac- 
quaintance and social intercourse among the teachers, 
and has drawn them -and their officers together more 
closely, confidentially and lovingly than the more formal 
business meeting, or even the fact that they were in 
common in religious work, could have done. At the 
same time, those members of the church who have so 
kindly extended hospitality to the teachers have become 
better acquainted with them and their work, and more 
deeply interested in both. 

During the present pastorate there have been but 



8o The Calvary Baptist Church. 

two superintendents of the Sunday-school. When the 
pastor assumed his duties he found Mr. William A. 
Cauldwell occupying that position. He had then been 
in office for two years. That position he filled for 
thirteen years in all. He gave to this service his ripest 
thought, his constant labor and his earnest prayers. 
He is a careful student of God's word and a conscien- 
tious worker in the Lord's vineyard. There are few 
men whose genius is more versatile, whose friendship is 
more helpful, and whose Christian service more bene- 
ficent. To know him is to admire and to love him. 
He can write you a poem ; he can make a drawing of 
a church ; he can solve a mathematical problem. In a 
word, he can do more things, and do them better, than 
almost any man whom the compiler of this history can 
name. His deft hand, his clear mind, his open purse 
and his loving heart have all been given to the service 
of Christ in connection with this school. Under his 
wise administration the school grew from feebleness to 
strength, and converts were constantly added to the 
church. Mission work was systematized and benevo- 
lence was increased ; and the hearts of all teachers and 
scholars responded to his leadership with unanimity and 
enthusiasm. After he had resigned his position he still 



mmmmms&m 



§» it 




The Sunday-School. 



retained his interest. This is sometimes the severest 
test to be applied to a superintendent or to a pastor. 
Mr. Cauldwell lives to-day in the hearts of teachers 
and pupils as truly as when he was Superintendent, 
and he is as loyal to his successor as that successor is 
appreciative of his predecessor. In 1882, Mr. Cauldwell 
having resigned, Mr. James Duane Squires was elected 
Superintendent, and he still holds the position. 

Mr. Squires was a young man to take hold of such 
work as this. He also had to go through the trials 
connected with the removal of church and school from 
the old church home to the new. This was a severe 
test of his courage and his leadership. Since coming 
to the new church home the school has grown until it is 
larger than ever before. When the church was erected 
it was thought that we would never be able to fill the 
chapel with our Sunday-school; but already it is at 
times crowded, and some of the Bible-classes are obliged 
to meet in the church proper. Mr. Squires performs 
his varied duties with rare skill, with uniform consider- 
ateness, and with true Christian devotion. He was 
born in Cortland, N. Y., and baptized when but a boy 
into the fellowship of the Baptist Church of that town. 
He was thus fitted to sympathize with the religious ex- 



82 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

perience of the young. A graduate of the University 
of Rochester, and a lawyer of experience, he has laid 
all his experience and attainments on the altar of ser- 
vice for the Master. He has seen large numbers con- 
verted in the school and baptized into the fellowship of 
the church. There is but one hope, so far as teachers 
are concerned, — that Mr. Squires may long retain the 
position which for eight years he has so acceptably and 
successfully filled. The figures which we give elsewhere 
in the history of the Sunday-school give all the details, 
and make it needless to go at this point into fuller 
particulars. 

We might speak with marked appreciation of some 
former superintendents. Most of them, however, filled 
the position for but a short time. It is pleasant, how- 
ever, to emphasize a former reference to Mr. Benjamin 
F. Stone, who is still with us as an appreciative teacher 
and worker. 

Mr. Alpheus Freeman is Superintendent of the Chi- 
nese Department. This position he fills with marked 
devotion and success. Few positions are more trying, 
and few men could fill this one with more evident 
marks of the Divine approval. 

Rev. J. B. Haygooni is at the head of the Armenian 



The Sunday-School. 83 



Department. A scholarly man, a trained theologian, 
and an experienced missionary, he is able to render 
efficient service to his countrymen, who are, for the 
most part, strangers in a strange land. 

Mr. J. S. Tebbetts is Superintendent of the Calvary 
Branch, at Sixty-eighth Street and Boulevard. He per- 
forms these duties with untiring energy, and sees the 
work constantly prospered in his hands. Mr. I. N. 
Merrifield is Minister in charge at this Branch. 

Mr. David Mitchell is Superintendent at Boulevard 
and One Hundred and Fourth Street. This work has 
grown from small beginnings to its present encouraging 
dimensions. There is preaching twice every Sunday, 
Mr. G. B. Lawson being the Minister in charge. 

There is also an Italian Department, over which Mr. 
John Carano presides, giving to it all the time which 
he can spare from his daily secular duties. Trained in 
Naples as a student for the priesthood of the Church 
of Rome, he became a Christian and a Baptist, and 
shows a degree of intelligence in distinctive Baptist 
principles and in the teachings of the New Testament 
which are a constant pleasure to all who work with 
him in church relations. 

There is also an interesting Chinese work performed 



84 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

at the Mariners' Temple by two young women of the 
Calvary Church, Miss Elizabeth H. Roundey and Miss 
Mary S. Christopher. These excellent workers perform 
a unique service on behalf of the Chinamen. They 
give every night in the week and every week in the 
year to this consecrated effort. The Chinamen under 
their direction are intelligent and studious men. Many 
of them are merchants ; others are employed in various 
ways on board the ships which come into our port. 
The progress they have made under the tuition of these 
teachers is remarkable. A refinement of manner, as 
well as a knowledge of English and a familiarity with 
the Word of God, is a characteristic of the instruction 
they receive. Several of them have professed their 
faith in Christ and have been baptized into the fellow- 
ship of the Calvary Church. This is a work which will 
doubtless grow into still greater proportions. It is 
hoped soon to secure a guild -house with class-rooms 
and lodgings for these young men, in which they may 
find a home away from the dangerous temptations which 
beset them in the vicinity of Mott Street, and a home 
in which a Christian atmosphere shall be breathed and 
innocent pleasures enjoyed. 



%obert Stuart OWacoArthur. 



(^ HE O 



he present pastor, Rev. Robert Stuart MacArthur, 
was born in the little village of Dalesville, on 
the Ottawa River, in the Province of Quebec. 
His father and mother were of ancient Highland stock; 
both were born in Scotland, and always retained the 
Gaelic language in private conversation. According to 
Black's History of Scotland, " The Clan MacArthur were 
the original Lairds of the rocky shores of Loch Ame," 
in the Highlands of Scotland. In later days they were 
merged into the Clan Campbell. Dr. MacArthur's 
mother was a Stuart, and some members of this clan 
trace the family line back to Prince Charles Edward 
Stuart, whose romantic history has so large a place in 
the popular songs of Scotland. She was trained in the 
Presbyterian Church, but while a young woman came 
under the instruction of the celebrated evangelists, 
James and Robert Haldam, during one of their evan- 
gelistic tours into the Highlands, and was thus led to 



86 The Calvary Baptist Church. 



adopt Baptist views, and to unite with the Baptists 
when she afterward came to make a profession of Faith. 
Mr. MacArthur made a profession of religion at thir- 
teen years of age, and united with his mother's church, 
having been baptized by Rev. John King in the little 
river near his father's house. Mr. King is still pastor 
of the Dalesville Church, a church which has sent a 
number of young men into the ministry. He was 
expecting to pursue a business life, and continued to 
prepare himself for this vocation until the age of seven- 
teen, when, during a time of special religious interest 
in the Baptist Church at St. Andrew's, under the care 
of Rev. John Dempsey, he determined to give himself 
to the work of the ministry. He prepared for college 
at the Canadian Literary Institute, at Woodstock, On- 
tario, then under the principalship of Rev. R. A. Fyfe, 
D.D. His collegiate course was taken at the University 
of Rochester, where he was distinguished for oratorical 
ability as well as for high scholarship, taking, among 
other prizes, the first prize Senior gold medal. His 
theological training was received in the Rochester The- 
ological Seminary, then under the presidency of Rev. 
E. G. Robinson, D.D., LL.D. He supplied the pulpit 
of the Lake Avenue Chapel, now a vigorous church, 



Robert Stuart Mac Arthur. 



for a year and a half during his theological course, and 
also preached at Canandaigua for about ten months 
during his final year. He also preached repeatedly in 
the pulpits of Presbyterian, Congregational and other 
churches in Rochester and other cities. He came to 
the Calvary Baptist Church within three days after 
graduating from the Seminary, and has labored almost 
without cessation ever since. His degree of D.D. was 
conferred by the University of Rochester in 1880. 

In addition to varied and ever widening pastoral labor, 
Dr. MacArthur has been busy with his pen for more 
than eighteen years. He is the weekly New York 
correspondent of the "Chicago Standard," and each let- 
ter is an epitome of church and denominational news, 
and reports in a succinct manner the doings of other 
religious bodies. He is also editorially associated with 
the "Christian Inquirer" and the "Baptist Quarterly 
Review." Theological and social questions, our current 
literature and our educational systems are discussed by 
him in the columns of these publications with acknowl- 
edged candor, and in a broadly catholic spirit. Before 
nearly all our Baptist seminaries in the country he has 
given lectures upon the " Pastor's Leadership of his 
Church," and other topics relating to church work and 



The Calvary Baptist Church. 



life. He has published a volume of sermons, entitled 
"The Calvary Pulpit," which he affectionately dedicated 
to his people. In the near future he expects to issue 
another volume of sermons. He is one of the com- 
pilers of two hymn-books which have had a wide circu- 
lation in the leading Baptist churches in the country, 
the "Calvary Selection" and " Laudes Domini." He is 
at present engaged in preparing a hymn-book suited to 
the Sunday-school and prayer meeting. He wrote the 
Sunday-school lessons for the "Sunday-school World" for 
six months, and is a frequent contributor to magazines 
and other publications. 

He has visited Europe on three occasions, and his 
published letters and lectures descriptive of his travels 
have attracted wide attention. The writer of this sketch 
is forbidden to enter into details, and can only say that 
to those who know the man personally and are aware 
of his great energy and ceaseless activity, the wonderful 
growth and prosperity of the Calvary Church in a city 
like New York is, to say the least, no inscrutable mys- 
tery. He has still his best years of work before him, 
and with his unimpaired health, his varied experience 
and his aggressive purpose, we may expect more and 
better work in the future than he has ever done in the 



Robert Stuart Mac Arthur. 89 

past. His aim has been to preach Christ, and Him 
crucified, and to that purpose we believe he will stand 
true until the cross is exchanged for the crown. 



T)r. [Mac Arthur's " Yoke-Fellows. 



(^ I HE pastor considers himself peculiarly fortunate in 
4 I the character and work of the brethren who 
~^ have been his yoke-fellows. For a number of 
years he worked entirely alone ; he did not have even 
a woman visitor to aid in any department. But the 
constantly increasing number of members, together with 
outside duties and literary work, made it impossible for 
him to do the work alone. No small amount of time 
and labor was required in calling upon strangers, many 
of them young men and women from the country, whose 
pastors wrote to him to give them pastoral oversight. 
The number of such in a city like New York is always 
very great, and the duty of caring for them is impera- 
tive. If they are not brought into relation with some 
of our churches they soon drift into the world, per- 
forming no religious duty, and feeling that no one cares 
for their souls. If pastors in the country and in other 
cities would call the attention of New York pastors to 



92 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

their members and adherents who come to the city, 
many of them would be saved to the church. 

When Rev. J. B. Calvert was a student in the Union 
Theological Seminary, he was accustomed to assist Dr. 
MacArthur in various forms of service. When his 
course was completed, he came into fuller fellowship 
with the work of the Calvary Church. He gave, for a 
time, a part of his labor to the service of the State 
Convention, and the remainder of it to the Calvary 
Church. At other times he gave all his strength to 
church work. He was and is a valued friend. He 
proved to be wise in counsel, energetic in service and 
devoted in purpose. Until he became associated with 
the " Christian Inquirer" his services to the church were 
continued. In that service he still has a deep interest, 
and all the members of the church who know him 
cherish an affectionate regard for him in his present 
work. 

Part of the time when Mr. Calvert was rendering 
service, Rev. John Love was associated with the work 
of the church. Mr. Love was born in Scotland severity 
years ago. He received his early training in the Presby- 
terian Church, but shortly after becoming a Christian he 
obeyed the teachings of God's Word by being baptized 



Dr. Mac Arthurs "Yoke-Fellows." 93 

into the fellowship of a Baptist Church in Greenock. 
For a number of years after coming to New York he 
rendered valuable service in Christian work in connec- 
tion with his daily secular business ; but later he gave 
all his time to the service of the Lord in connection with 
the New York City Mission Society. As a tract dis- 
tributor and a house - to - house visitor he acquired a 
knowledge of human nature and of the methods of 
teaching the Word of God to individual souls such as 
few Christian workers possess. Later he became a mis- 
sionary of the New York Baptist City Mission Society, 
and preached on Sundays and conducted meetings during 
the week in the Bethesda Chapel, on East Thirty-third 
Street. About this time he and his excellent wife 
became members of the Calvary Church, together with 
three of their sons. The pastor often assisted Mr. 
Love in the services at the Bethesda Chapel, as did 
also other members of the Calvary Church. A number 
of the converts from that work were baptized into the 
fellowship of the church, and thus a warm friendship 
for Mr. Love was formed by many of the Calvary 
people. 

The work of the church increased to such a degree 
that it was felt by some of the older and wiser mem- 



94 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

bers that additional pastoral labor was an absolute ne- 
cessity. At the suggestion of the late Nathan Bishop, 
LL. D., the pastor was instructed to seek out a man 
after his own heart, who might be a yoke-fellow with 
him in pastoral work, especially in visiting homes in 
which the Word of God should be read and instruction 
given to families, and also in laboring with individual 
souls. In harmony with the suggestion of Dr. Bishop, 
the pastor chose Mr. Love. 

For seven years they worked together. They were 
years of constant prosperity. No difference of opinion 
ever marred the heartiness of their friendship ; no word 
of misunderstanding on either side was ever spoken ; no 
thought but of mutual confidence and love was ever 
cherished. Side by side they wept, and prayed, and 
rejoiced over souls whose salvation they sought. He, 
his wife and his honored family enjoy the confidence, 
esteem and affection of the entire church. Mr. Love 
gave the vigor of his body, the experience of his long 
and varied service, and the consecration of his pure and 
loving heart to the work of winning men to God. His 
labors were arduous, but his elastic body was never 
weary, and his heart was always warm and true. At 
the end of these seven years he resigned his position 



Dr. Mac Arthurs "Yoke-Fellows." 95 

to become the associate pastor with his own son, Rev. 
John Love, Jr., in Philadelphia. He and Mrs. Love 
have recently come to New York, where he is now 
spending the evening of his noble and successful life 
in the enjoyment of God's presence, and in rendering 
service by presenting Christ to individual souls. Few 
men have more skill in this regard than Mr. Love. He 
not only has a "passion for souls," but he has wisdom 
in winnine them to Christ and the Church. His knowl- 
edge of God's Word is broad and deep ; his theological 
system lays hold of the great love of God as seen in 
the atoning death of Jesus Christ ; his presence is al- 
ways a benediction ; he lives in the world and yet is 
not of it ; he brings much of heaven down to earth, 
filling every circle in which he moves with the light and 
love of his Lord and Master. Mr. Love is love by 
nature as well as by name. At times it seems as if 
there was but little of John Love left, there is so much 
of Jesus Christ seen in his daily life. 

After Mr. Love left, the church sought to find an- 
other assistant for the pastor who might combine liter- 
ary ability with pastoral service. After a careful canvas, 
without a dissenting vote, and with the utmost unanim- 
ity, the church decided to call to this position Rev. E. 



96 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

D. Simons, of Bloomfield, N. J. Mr. Simons listened 
to the call as the voice of the Master. After careful 
and prayerful consideration, he entered upon his work. 
He was the man for the place. During certain hours 
in the forenoon he assisted in various forms of corre- 
spondence and literary work in the pastor's study. The 
afternoons were given to calls and pastoral work gener- 
ally. Mr. Simons started the mission work which has 
now grown into the Calvary Branch, at Sixty -eighth 
Street and Boulevard. He was a man of scholarly 
habits, of gentle manners, of refined tastes, and of con- 
secrated purpose. He had the joy of baptizing two of 
his own children on the Easter Sunday which followed 
the beginning of his labor. After a month of severe 
illness, during which all that wifely affection and medical 
skill could do for him, he laid down his cross and re- 
ceived his crown from the Master whom he so truly 
loved and so devotedly served. Loyal as a soldier to 
his country, he was equally loyal as a good soldier of 
Jesus Christ. His name will long remain in the list 
of those who heard his country's call, who marched to 
the front, and who did valiant service in the day of 
trial. He will also live in the memory of those who 
read his admirable book, "A Regimental History." To 



Dr. Mac Arthur s "Yoke-Fellows." 



97 



no one in that volume did he do injustice except to 
himself. He was brave as he was modest, and true as 
he was brave. His funeral service was attended by old 
friends and new, each vying with the other in expres- 
sions of appreciation and affection. Many articles have 
appeared in the denominational and in the secular press 
descriptive of his life and his triumphant death. The 
sympathy of his church in Bloomfield, as well as of 
the Calvary Church, and of many friends elsewhere, was 
given to his noble wife and fatherless children. They 
have still a home in the Calvary Church, and they live 
in the enjoyment of the affection of the entire church. 

It was a time of trial for the church when Mr. Simons 
was called up higher. All arrangements were made 
for the absence of the pastor and his wife, who antici- 
pated making a journey to Norway, Sweden and Russia, 
while Mr. Simons expected to supply the pulpit. His 
death seemed likely to interrupt all these plans ; but 
our extremity was God's opportunity. 

Just then Rev. Frank Rogers Morse, D. D., pastor 
of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Brooklyn, resigned 
after ten years of service. At a meeting held in the 
pastor's study by the Board of Trustees and the Advisory 
Committee, it was unanimously agreed to invite Dr. 



9 8 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Morse to supply the pulpit during the pastor's absence. 
He responded to the call. Large congregations gath- 
ered every Sunday. He conducted all the meetings 
during the week. He visited in many homes, and 
immediately found a large and warm place in many 
hearts. Upon the pastor's return it was decided to 
invite Dr. Morse to become his assistant in permanent 
work. 

Dr. Morse was born in New Hampshire. He gradu- 
ated from Dartmouth College in 1861, and from Newton 
Theological Seminary in 1865. His first settlement was 
at Cambridge, Mass. He afterward went to Lowell, later 
to Albany and Brooklyn, and finally to the Calvary 
Church. During his ministry he has baptized over one 
thousand persons. He has done during his pastoral life 
thus far a large amount of newspaper correspondence 
and general editorial work ; also has frequently lectured 
before our institutions of learning upon theological, 
scientific and other subjects. Dr. Morse came to this 
church with the experience of years of successful pastoral 
labor, with ripeness of judgment, which comes from such 
experience, from the development of a noble character, 
and with the breadth of scholarship whose foundations 
were laid in college, and whose superstructure has gone 



Dr. Mac Arthur s "Yoke-Fellows" 99 

up silently by scholarly tastes, wide reading, and careful 
thinking ever since. No truer friendship could exist than 
that which binds the pastor to his honored associate, 
and both of them in this sacred fellowship to the entire 
church. The pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by 
night, is going before these pastors and the church. 
Souls are constantly coming unto the obedience of 
Christ, and into the fellowship of the church. The 
banner over pastors and people is love, and with hearts 
uplifted for divine guidance and hands outstretched in 
constant labor, they are moving forward together for 
the glory of Christ, and for the salvation of men. 



General &{otes. 



^~* V-^Neace has always characterized the relation of 
k^ the pastor to the people, and the people 
_ _>^ among themselves. The existence of an Ad- 

visory Committee, to which all matters of business are 
referred before they are introduced into a church meet- 
ing, has contributed greatly to the harmony which marks 
the history of the church. This Committee is composed 
of the deacons ex officio, and certain other brethren 
who represent the various social conditions, the differ- 
ent ages, and the several religious organizations in the 
church. No business whatever is introduced into the 
church except through the recommendations of this 
Committee ; and no recommendation is made to the 
church until the Committee agrees unanimously upon 
that recommendation. The existence of such a com- 
mittee, if properly chosen and properly directed, will 
give a Baptist church all the advantages which Presby- 



102 The Calvary Baptist Chttrch. 

terian organizations have, and still retain the church 
independence peculiar to our democratic form of church 
government. It would be easy to speak at great length 
of the advantages of such a committee. No church 
that has given it a fair trial would ever attempt to 
conduct its affairs without this wise provision. The 
deacons have always proved to be men of God, devoted 
to all the interests of the church, consistent in their 
lives, and loyal to the Word and Church of Christ. 
The trustees have borne many heavy burdens in con- 
nection with the building of the new church. Some 
of them have given for weeks or months more time to 
the work of the church than they have to their own 
private affairs, and they gave their money with marked 
liberality. It would be almost impossible to speak too 
emphatically of their devotion to the cause of Christ 
in connection with the financial and other interests of 
the Church. 

The members of the choir never have considered 
themselves as rendering so much service simply for so 
much remuneration. The quid pro quo idea has never 
prevailed in this department of our work. The mem- 
bers of the choir have considered themselves as per- 
forming one of the most important parts of the service. 



General Notes. 103 



They have been inspired by a high purpose, and this 
purpose they have pursued with commendable zeal. 

There has not been, during the present pastorate, a 
ripple on the surface of church life in connection with 
any of the organizations of the church. It has ever 
been the aim of the church to do its own work in the 
use of what are usually called the ordinary means of 
grace. Reliance has not been placed on the occasional 
visits of an evangelist, but every service has been con- 
sidered, in a sense, as an extraordinary service. It is 
believed that every week, every service indeed, ought 
to bring forth its appropriate fruit. The net is thrown 
in the Sunday-school and in the church services with 
great frequency, and there is also constant fishing with 
its hook and line. Baptisms have occurred monthly for 
years, and sometimes more than once during the month. 
This has not been a revival church in the technical 
sense of that term, but it has been what has been 
called a vival church. 

All objects of benevolence are presented, as a rule, 
by the pastor rather than by agents of the various so- 
cieties. It is believed and taught that giving to the 
Lord is one of the highest forms of religious worship ; 
that alms should be given as religiously as prayers are 



104 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

offered. It is not possible in this paragraph to give a 
statement of all the methods of church work, but the 
general principle is here outlined. 

The church has always been marked for its large 
number of students for the Gospel ministry. Seldom 
are there fewer than five or six, and sometimes as many 
as eight and ten, at one time in colleges or theological 
seminaries. The amount of money given during the 
past twenty years for this purpose alone is so large as 
to excite gratitude and inspire hope. The number of 
college graduates in the membership of the church is 
also worthy of comment. In almost any prayer-meet- 
ing graduates of half a dozen and more colleges can 
be found taking part in the exercises of the hour. 

The church has usually been represented also by mis- 
sionary workers in home and foreign fields. It has at 
the present time several members who are laborers in 
heathen lands. The monthly concert of prayer is ob- 
served, and the cause of missions — city, state, home 
and foreign — has a prominent place in all our efforts 
and prayers. 

The number of ministers who are members of the 
church is unusually large. At the date of the last re- 
port of the Southern New York Baptist Association, 



General Notes. 105 



the number of ordained ministers in the membership of 
the church was sixteen. There are several licentiates. 
Several of these are engaged in literary work ; others 
in connection with the work of home and foreign mis- 
sions ; and some as evangelists, laboring in different 
parts of the country. The pastor has often borne testi- 
mony to the help which he has received from these 
ministering brethren, and to the courtesy and affection 
which they show to one another and to him. This is 
not the church of the rich, neither is it the church of 
the poor. It is neither — because it is both. At God's 
altar, and in God's house, such distinctions ought not 
to be known. Here rich and poor meet together and 
learn that God is the maker, and offers to be redeemer, 
of both. This church, like Christ's religion, judges men 
not by what they have, but by what they are. Char- 
acter, not condition, is the true criterion of men. 

The church has striven to be loyal to the distinctive 
principles of the Baptist denomination. It has accepted 
the Word of God as its only rule of faith and practice, 
and it strives to bow to the authority of Jesus Christ 
as the only King in Zion. 



The 'Present Condition of the Church. 




n Sunday morning, May 18th, the twentieth 
anniversary of the pastor's settlement was ob- 
served with appropriate services. The text of 
his sermon was Gen. xxxi : 41 — "Thus have I been 
twenty years in Thy house." The sermon emphasized 
some of the features of this ministry of twenty years, 
and reviewed some of the movements which have 
marked the religious history of these years in this city 
and in the county as a whole. The following facts 
were erven : 

The number of members in May, 1870, was 238. The 
number received by baptism in the twenty years is 
1,250; by letter and experience, 1,223, making a total 
increase of 2,473. The number lost by death and dis- 
missions by letter is over 800, leaving between 1,800 
and 1,900 members to-day. The number of baptisms 
up to this date is greater than in any previous year. 
The total amount given for benevolent purposes during 



108 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

the twenty years is not less than one and a half million 
dollars, and the net increase in members is a little over 
i, 600. During these twenty years the pastor has not 
lost a single Sunday through illness. 

There have always existed, and still exist, the most 
pleasant relations between pastor and people. The 
trustees and deacons have always warmly co-operated 
with him in his work. The church was never more 
prosperous or more strongly united than now. The 
aim of all is to work for the Master. At present 
two missions are sustained, and the contributions of 
the church for benevolent and missionary purposes 
are large. 

Among the membership are sixteen ordained minis- 
ters, six licentiates and several young men who are 
preparing for the ministry. 

The Sunday-school has on its roll about sixteen hun- 
dred names, with one hundred and seventy-five officers 
and teachers. 

Among the older members of the Board of Deacons 
is Mr. James H. Merchant, who served as Treasurer of 
the church for eighteen years, and who has held the 
position of Deacon for twenty years. Mr. Merchant 
has been with the church almost from the first, and 



Present Condition of the Church. 109 

been closely identified with its life and growth to the 

present. He is still active and beloved of all for his 

unabating zeal and earnest devotion in every depart- 
ment of Christian work. 

ORGANIZATION. 

For so large a church the organization is very simple. 
The principle which animates every department is that 
of service for Christ and loyalty to the church, rather 
than of a narrow, partisan ambition for the exaltation 
of a single arm of the church. The following are the 
principal official positions, with their present incumbents: 

Officers of the Church: — Rev. Robert Stuart Mac- 
Arthur, D. D., Pastor, 358 West 57th Street. Rev. 
Frank Rogers Morse, D.D., Associate, 1495 Broadway. 

Deacons: — James H. Merchant, William M. Isaacs, 
Ransom Parker, Edward Colgate, L. H. Blackman, 
William Bawden, L. A. Gould, L. C. King, Newell 
Bliss, H. L. Bean. 

Church Clerk: — D. A. Haynes, 10 Wall Street. 

Trustees: — H. C. Conger, W. A. Cauldwell, H. F. 
Randolph, E. B. Harper, David Mitchell, C. A. Saun- 
ders, E. H. Conklin, G. Benedict Frisbie, H. P. Porter. 



1 1 o The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Treasurer of Board of Trustees: — E. H. Conklin, 
34 Spruce Street. 

Treasurer of Benevolent Fund: — H. W. Grimwood, 
1 60 Front Street. 

Treasurer of Fellowship Fund: — Edward Colgate, 13 
East 69th Street. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Superintendent, J. D. Squires, 57 East 76th Street. 
Assistant Superintendent, H. W. Grimwood, 160 Front 
Street. Secretary, F. M. Cooper, Potter Building. 
Treasurer, F. C. Aldrich, 72 Gold Street. Librarian, 
A. J. Gamble, 137 West 49th Street. 

SOCIETIES. 

Women's Benevolent Society: — President, Mrs. W. H. 
Isaacs. 

The Woman's Missionary Society: — President, Mrs. R. 

S. Mac Arthur. Vice-President, Mrs. H. E. Stevens. 

Secretary, Mrs. Dr. Jackson. Treasurer, Mrs. H. C. 
Conger. 

Young Peoples Association, 1889-90/ — President, Datus 
A. Smith. Vice-President, J. Veile. Lady Vice-Presi- 



Present Condition of the Church. 1 1 1 

dent, Miss Mary E. Ramsay. Secretary, Henry E. 
Stevens, Jr. Assistant Secretary, Frank Ward. Treas- 
urer, Robert H. Seaton. 

The present regular appointments are as follows : 
Sunday: — Young People's Prayer Meeting, 10.15 a.m. 

Preaching Service, 11.00 a. m. Sunday-School, 2.45 p. m. 

(American, Chinese and Italian classes in the school.) 

Evening Service, 7.45 p. m. 

Monday : — Young People's Prayer Meeting, 7.45 p. m. 
Ladies' Sewing Society, 10.00 a.m. Young Ladies' Mis- 
sion Band every other week, 2.30 p.m. 

Wednesday : — Before the last Sunday of each month 
the Advisory Committee meets, 7.45 p. m. 

Thursday: — Women's General Prayer Meeting, 11.00 
a. m. Young Women's Prayer Meeting, 3.30 p. m. 

Friday : — Regular Church Prayer Meeting, 7.45 p. m. 

Saturday: — Children's Mission Band, 10.00 a.m. 

From May to September evening meetings at 8.00 p. m. 

Calvary Branch, 68th Street, West of Boulevard : — 

Sunday-School, 9.20 a. m. Young People's Prayer 

Meeting, Tuesday, 7.45 p. m. Prayer Meeting, Thurs- 
day, 7.45 P. M. 



1 1 2 The Calvary Baptist Church. 

Calvary Branch, 104th Street and Boulevard: — Sun- 
day-School, 2.30 p.m. Preaching Service, Sunday, 10.30 
a. m. and 7.30 p. m. Prayer Meeting, Wednesday, 
7.45 P. M. 

Young Mens Guild: — Guild House, 135 West 163d 
Street. Open every evening. 



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